Re:Monster Human Edition
by Zinnyzin
Summary: A what-if? series following the main character Rou if he was reborn as a human instead of a goblin.
1. Day 1-10

I own nothing relating to any series, including Re:Monster.

 **Re:Monster Human Edition[1]**

 **[Day 0]**

There is a saying, 'Truth is stranger than fiction'... I have truly understood the meaning of those words now, 'Real events can be far more ridiculous than a fictional story'. After all, I've experienced it myself. It seems that I was killed after being stabbed by the stalker whom I had considered to be like a younger sister, and somehow I got reincarnated.

No, I'm not joking. I'm still a little confused, just being killed by my stalker, so save all your comments until the end of my story since it might sound a bit wild if you interrupt me. So let me explain everything from the beginning…

Let's start with my name. I used to be called 'Tomokui Kanata'. However, since I was reincarnated, let's leave it as 'Nameless' for now.

I have a bit of memory lapse here, probably from being stabbed in the head, but I remember being invited to go out drinking with some colleagues. I accepted that offer and we went bar hopping. Since the next day was a holiday, we let go of our reserves and drunk till we passed out… or at least they did. Due to my special ability, I have an insane alcohol tolerance. I'd tell you about my ability, but I'll save that for a later time.

I ended up having to carry a colleague to my home and, being a gentleman, I gave her my bed while I took the couch. I wasn't done drinking, however, and went out to buy myself some more alcohol. On my way back home, I noticed my stalker standing under a street light. Even for a stalker, our relationship isn't what you call normal. She, Kirimine Aoi, was an active college student, was twenty years old, five years younger than myself. In my third year of high school, before I had awoken my Esper abilities, I saw a couple of delinquentes harassing her. She was in middle school at the time, a year or two from high school.

While I normally just would've passed the bullying by without doing anything, my grandfather had just given me a high end taser baton to protect myself and I was feeling a little cocky. Plus she was rather cute.

After a quick few hits, they were sprawled across the ground, twitching and foaming at the mouth. I took her hand and ran off with her, getting her away before they could recover.

After that incident, Aoi's affection towards me slowly grew. It was only a matter of time but Aoi had become my stalker.

It wasn't very severe stalking, however, until I had found a job at my current workplace, where she continued chasing me. She even followed me to other planets, where I would occasionally be sent to use my ability.

When dealing with stalkers, one should speak with them as naturally as one can, no matter how much they infringe upon one's private life.

What I've told you so far may not be understandable yet, but after I explain how I died, everything will become clear.

Anyway, After buying the alcohol I met Aoi on my way home. It would've been nice to say that it was a coincidence. Yet while looking down, under the light of the street-lamp, Aoi was emanating a black aura unlike her usual puppy-like self; so I could only respond by tilting my neck in confusion.

Aoi, even as a stalker, was an existence akin to a younger sister for me; because of that I was able to notice the weird atmosphere at that time, so I called out to her.

There was no reply. Aoi's face remained downcast.

In that moment I felt a great uneasiness that couldn't be expressed. Yet even so, I still approached her so that I could learn of its cause. Before I knew it, I was being pierced in the abdomen by a knife.

Even though I had a strong body, and the degree of injury was curable with regenerative medical treatment, I could still feel the severe pain that came from the blade that was being rotated which aimed at gouging out my internal organs.

It was within expectations that I would not die if the sheath knife used was made from a lump of ordinary metal, but what Aoi used, was the Thunder Dagger; a B-rank ceremonial knife with an additional lightning property created by Sakuma Heavy Industries, Ltd. Simply put, it's a single molecular cutter with the abilities of a high voltage taser and other weapons. It's a kind of proximity equipment that increases in sharpness when the thousand tiny blades installed on its side start to spin like a chainsaw moving at very high speeds. Once activated, a high-voltage current pours through the victim who is stabbed. The victim's movement is then temporarily paralyzed. It's equipment typically used by the military.

I didn't even have time to think about why Aoi had such a thing. Nevertheless, I was pushed down, restrained, and was stabbed by the sheath knife repeatedly. The amount of blood my mouth vomited was unusual as my body was being pierced relentlessly. Every time the knife penetrated my skin, I could feel the meat and bones getting torn up while my blood splattered everywhere.

Before I knew it, the slender frame of Aoi riding on my body, had been dyed red in blood.

Although I had become a strengthened human after undergoing a reinforcement operation, and exceeded ordinary humans because of my occupation–I was disappointingly killed by Aoi who was a mere civilian. What does this mean? I know the performance of the sheath knife may be amazing, but was it strong enough to destroy the body of a strengthened human? Was she really capable of breaking down my stance with a surprise attack? Even if movement was impossible due to the high voltage current, was that really so?

Why– Well, this situation is regrettable.

At that time, Aoi's figure, that was stained red with my blood, was too impressive to remember in detail.

Oh, well…

Anyway, I was killed by Aoi.

A mortal wound can't be cured even after receiving regenerative medical treatment. The last thing I saw was the knife's point approaching my eyeball, which would mean it was approaching my brain; a uniquely unreproducible organ, was going to be completely destroyed. After my head was completely lacerated, my consciousness eventually melted into the darkness.

However, the story doesn't just end there. The reincarnation hadn't started yet. My consciousness remained steadfast and didn't change in any way, until I finally noticed it. I memorized that last scene right before losing consciousness, but didn't I die? Was it just a dream or am I drunk? I rejected the idea momentarily. The answer was reflexive and indifferent.

I was killed for sure. I could remember the pain caused by the electric current running through my veins, and the coldness of the blade that cut through my chest. This is absolutely not an illusion. Yet I'm alive. As to why–I'd like to know myself. As I was thinking that, my heavy eyelids opened.

There I saw it, I was looking at something extremely cute. It made me think that I'd been reincarnated. It was this conclusive evidence that made me realize… Oh… Sorry I suddenly feel sleepy, but it doesn't end here–Tomorrow I'll continue… It wasn't the darkness of death but the result of being fatigued.

 **[Day 1]**

I woke with a start, snapping my eyes open. I tried to look around to gather information about what happened but, for whatever reason, I couldn't move my head. Due to that, I wasn't able to grasp a lot of information. I was still able to understand one fact: Though it's regrettable, the idea of being reincarnated wasn't a dream or delusion I had while I was drunk.

With a little more effort, and with my limited vision, I could determine a few more things. It appears I was in a tent. Not one of the modern tents but something more like a tent that'd be erected during a war in the middle ages. I was in a straw basket and resting on a scratchy blanket. It was very uncomfortable. More importantly, above me stood a cute little girl.

There was something off about her… She was almost unnaturally cute. Maybe it was her silky looking hair, her slitted yellow eyes or her cat ears… Yep, those last two were it. She reached down to my basket to pick me up, rubbing my chin. I didn't react, stunned that a catgirl actually existed. She frowned some but carried me over to another woman, this one human. With how she was lying and how exhausted she looked, I suspected she had just given birth. With me in the tent and no other newborns in sight, I suspected she was my new mother.

She seemed happy though. The catgirl gave me over to her and the woman pulled me close, rubbing my chin. I still didn't react but she didn't seem to care. She smiled anyway, "Hey there little Rou." Her hand moved up to stroke my hair, "He's beautiful." She paused on my forehead while moving through another stroke and paled, "Oh.."

I didn't know what was going on but she seemed.. Odd. Her attitude had changed quickly. She did a quick one-handed prayer and looked to the catgirl, who was apparently her handmaiden, "Tell no one." Yep, still no idea what she meant. She set her hand on my stomach and started muttering something. It went on for a few minutes before I got something that seemed like a notification in my head.

 **[You have gained the "Precocious" trait. Time until removal: 3 days.]**

Huh? What's this? It seems I got a.. Blessing? Once I got this, my new mother stopped muttering and looked even weaker than before. She smiled again, however, and lowered me to her breast. It was clear what was going to happen so I won't bother explaining it.

It seems I kept my ESP ability from my last life, however. I had the ability **[Absorption: Consumption]**. First off, it allowed me to put anything in my mouth without risk of being harmed. I could have devoured a live grenade without worry. If I ate something with a special property, I had the chance to gain that property, either it was a passive or active one. If I wanted to use it constantly, such as a detection ability, I could 'flip a switch' and make it passive. Of course, I could change my mind at any time I wanted, flipping the switch and making it an active

power.

While I was being fed, I gained three abilities from my mother, just by drinking her milk.

 **[You have learned "Job: Wizard" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Internal Mana Control" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Magician's Wisdom" ability.]**

It seems this world not only had catgirls, a fantasy creature, but had other fantasy things, such as wizards and mana. It was easy to see I was reborn into not just a new world but an entirely new universe. Magic and the like defied the laws of the universe so it was the only option… well, my powers did as well, so maybe not.

Once I was done feeding, I was given back to the catgirl, who burped me and set me not in my basket but next to it. She emptied it out and laid the blankets on the ground and put me on them instead. I wasn't put in the basket because I had gained the Precocious trait, which lets me grow faster than normal.

I spent the rest of the day sleeping, being fed or just laying on on the bunch of scratchy blankets.

 **[Day 2]**

In less than twenty-four hours I have gone from the size of a newborn to the size of a three year old. All without a bit of pain. I'm even able to stand and walk around. I have to do it carefully, though, not quite used to this new body. It seems I was right about the Precocious ability. I still wasn't able to do much though…

Ah. Last night, my mother passed away. I think she used the last of her power to grant me that trait. She had apparently been in labor for most of the day and I hadn't come out right, causing too much damage to her. While clerics tried to help, most of them lacked the ability to do so, so, while they delayed her death enough for her to last the day, they were unable to save her. It was kind of heartbreaking but I barely knew the woman. I was thankful for her giving birth to me but I didn't really care otherwise.

I left the tent later that day in clothes the handmaiden gave me and walked around. We were in a camp set up by an army. I would've asked around if I could talk properly but, while I was able to string some words together, I still couldn't. It could wait until later though. I continued to walk around, learning a few thing about why the army was mobilized. They were escorting refugees from a country that was ravaged by demons and, while their job was to protect us, they wanted to be on the front lines to defend their homeland from the demon army.

I also learned that this world was host to heroes, people blessed by gods who become role models of their country of origin. The country my mother was from, being a small one, was host to only one hero that held back the army long enough to evacuate most of the capital city. Rumors spread that she had died and it was likely, seeing as the country was taken over by demons.

Well, it didn't really matter. At least, not for the moment. I planned on getting the level of power I had lost back and this world seemed perfect for it with all manners of beast and monsters to devour.

With the day over, I was guided by the catgirl to her tent and slept with her for the night.

 **[Day 3]**

I had grown a lot last night, going from the size of a three year old to around the the size of a ten year old. The clothes I had worn ripped while I was asleep but, seeing as they were of extremely low quality, I imagined they were meant to just last the day anyway.

The catgirl, who's name I learned was Maria, was so surprised by my growth, literally kicked me out of her bed. I was fortunate the ground was grass as I would've been injured otherwise. It took her a minute to recognize me but, once she did, she prostrated herself before me. I was apparently the son of her previous master and her job was to protect me until I was of age… She didn't even question why I was so much larger now. When I asked her why, she responded with, "My species grows about as quickly as you have.. I thought it was normal." I facepalmed but shrugged it off.

It had been a couple days since I was born so I decided to have a bath. Maria guided me, according with this world's customs as her master, she bathed me. While embarrassing, she did so without hesitation.

After my bath, I got dressed with new clothes she prepared and I went off to the knights training area. According to a few knights, I wasn't old enough to be a squire but I was allowed to train with a sword so, when I was ready, I had skills to use a blade to defend myself. Not that it really mattered. I was likely going to be of age by the start of tomorrow, physically at least. I gathered up a couple of weapons, a dagger, a short sword and a short spear and, before I started the day training with them, I started with training my body. I spent a good portion of the day doing that and, when I finished, Maria brought me a small meal. It wasn't much, provisions starting to run low for such a large group, but it was enough to keep hunger away… at least for the time being.

When I had gained my absorption ability I had turned into a glutton so it was natural for me to want food often. When I had fished my meal, I stood and moved over to the training area, starting use on the weapons, getting used to their weight and reach.. I would have to get a bigger spear when I was larger but it looked to be about proportional to what I thought my growth would be.

I spent the rest of the day training, did a quick wash without Maria and went off to sleep. In the same bed as her again.

 **[Day 4]**

 **[The trait "Precocious" has expired.]**

It was the last day I was going to grow. I had gone from a ten year old to a sixteen year old. Pretty odd growth rate but I wasn't going to complain. I woke up before Maria and went off to the baths. It was the last day I was going to remain in the camp, finally old strong enough to make it on my own and that was exactly what I planned on doing. As I entered the bath, I saw my reflection. I looked exactly as I did in high school with the exception of my eyes. Instead of brown eyes, they were as dark void of space. Well, at least I was still handsome. I finished bathing pretty quickly and moved back to the tent with Maria.

She was still sleeping, fortunate for me. I gathered up some clothes that looked tailored for me and a backpack. I stood and, as I started to leave, Maria woke up. She sat up sleepily on her bed, looking at me with confusion, "Rou.. where are you going?" I sighed and turned to her, "I'm leaving camp." This woke her up. She bolted out of bed and, instead of attacking me like I thought she would, she moved to a small chest off to the side. She gathered up some materials and stuffed them into a bag, even things that had no way of fitting, "Take this. This all that your parents prepared for you before they died." She looked at me apologetically but I shook my head. I wasn't offended like she thought I would be. She nodded and turned back grabbing one last thing before she closed the chest.

She moved to me and handed me the backpack as well as a letter, "Take these. The letter is from your mother. She wrote it while you were sleeping and wanted you to have it when you were of age." I nodded and took them both, taking the backpack off my back and giving it back to Maria, "Thank you Maria." I reached forward to brush some hair off her forehead before pecking it, causing her to blush uncontrollably. Ha. Still a teenage heartthrob. I took the other backpack and left her tent, making a quick stop by the weapons stockpile, taking some weapons that suited me best and putting them in my backpack. While it'd be best to eat the pack, there was no place I could without someone seeing.

I left the tent and started to head towards the nearby forest. It took five minutes to reach the edge but, by the time I got there, two soldiers had walked to where I was headed. I stopped and sighed, reached up to rub my forehead, "How can I help you two today?" They didn't look much older than I did and they walked clumsily around, showing how untrained they were. The first one, a redhead with a hell of a lot of freckles, spoke, "Just here to tell folks that leave the camp to be careful. Plenty of strong wild beast. They'll kill normal folk dead." I wave him off, "No worries, I can take care of myself." They nodded and stepped aside, letting me pass into the forest. I entered and took a short walk until I lost sight of them. I stopped and waited a for a few minutes before turning back and stopping just outside the forest edge.

I tried to wave down one of the soldiers. The second soldier came up. He was a stocky, pale man and kind of seemed like a creep but he was about the same size as me. A lucky bonus. I spoke as he came close, "There's a soldiers body in the forest." He seemed startled, "What? What happened?" I gave a small shrug, "I don't know. I think he was killed." He gave a small jump from fright when I said killed, "Come on, I'll show you the body." He nodded and followed after. Once the field was out of sight, I pulled a dagger from my waist. The soldier was distracted, looking around for the killing, "It's just up ahead." I glanced back at him and, as he looked away, I spun around and sunk the dagger into his head. It was a quick kill and he probably didn't feel any pain. I released the dagger as he started to crumple so it doesn't break. I leaned over and retrieved my dagger, flicking most the blood off.

I started to remove his armor, setting it to the side. It took a minute to find where it all connected but after that it was easy to take it off. Next was the leather under his armor. Everything he wore was needed so I kept at it until he was naked. Once he was, I unsheathed his sword and slashed at his limbs. It took a few swings but I was able to remove them. I really had to up my strength. Before I could've just snapped my fingers and his head would've popped off. I bagged his limbs and left, leaving his body there for the beast of the forest.

As I went deeper into the forest, I pulled out one of his arms, leisurely taking bites from it. He must have been quite a bit weaker than be because it wasn't until I finished the entire arm, bones included, that I was able to learn a skill from him. I have no clue if it's any good though.

 **[You have learned "Job: Warrior" ability.]**

He didn't even taste all that good… but skills were skills, I wouldn't complain as I wanted to regain my strength. After around an hour of walking, I came across a trail in the forest. It looked like it was well worn and there were very few weeds growing so it was still being used. I stop and remove the backpack, dumping the contents out on the trail. Once it was empty, I ate the bag, gaining another skill from it.

 **[You have learned "Interdimensional Storage" ability.]**

I was glad to have it. It was completely unfair, though, allowing me to stack twelve-hundred stacks of ninety-nine items. I activated it and a large square bag popped up out of nowhere. I opened it up and stuffed my things back in there, leaving the letter my mother out. I opened up the letter and read it.

It wasn't anything important. Half of it was just her apologizing for not being here and telling me how heroic my father was while the other half was describing how to use her unique style of magic. It was next to useless to me at the moment as I had no idea how to cast magic. I put the letter back into my bag and started moving along the trail. I pulled another arm out of Item Box and started munching on it. It was natural I ate this much, my absorption ability making me an extreme glutton.

I followed the trail for around half an hour until a settlement came into sight. I stopped and reopened my item box, pulling out my sheathed sword. I didn't draw my blade but I kept it out, ready for a fight if one happened to happen. I closed my bag again and moved towards the settlement. Upon reaching it, I found that it was… small. Not small as in tiny, more like it was sized for a little person, most doors coming up to my neck and no higher.

I moved towards what looked like a tavern, pushing through the old-west style doors. The inside was large enough for me to stand normally, the building having two floors. And from how it looked, I'd be able to stand normally inside anyway, the stairs to what I guessed were rooms for men to get… friendly with others of the female persuasion being a head or two higher than where I stood. I looked around the first floor, finding only one person in the tavern. It was a four foot tall man with a beard down to his waistline. He had a wide nose and wrinkles around his eyes.

I moved towards the counter. He waved at me as I got close, "Welcome stranger. Sorry ta say but wur closed. 'm the only one left in town, what with the army draftin' people fer the war against the demons." He sighs and shakes his head, "Gonna close up an' head down thar ta join ma' kin. Help weapon the soldiers." I nod some, "It's fine. Can I get some water at least? I've been walking for a while and I forgot to grab some." He laughs softly, "Yeah, yeah. No problem. On the house seein' as yer ma' last guest fer now." He turn and heads down the counter, moving to grab the water for me.

While he was distracted, I pulled my knife from its sheath, "I came across the trail while trekking through the forest. Headed down this way by change. You know what's down the other way?" He nods while filling a waterskin, "Yeah, 't's a mine. All dwarves here take shifts down thar ta give others sum time ta relax." He chuckles, "I' been down thar ma'self plenty of times. Got ta keep me some spirit stones fer some jewelry I' been tryin' ta make." He turns to walk down by the bar but, no matter how much I liked him, I sunk my dagger into his head. Sneak attacks seemed to work pretty well against people in this world. I pulled my dagger out before he could crumple and moved to grab a towel, quickly cleaning the blade of blood. I resheathed it before moving around the counter to grab his corpse, stowing it inside my item box.

I turned around and started to check what he had on the shelves but it was all in.. some language I couldn't understand. I kept the Item Box open and starting shoveling in as much alcohol as I could. I just hoped I had the same tolerance as I used to.

I closed the Item Box and took a look around, looking for tools or things I could use for later. I was able to find a pickaxe and a pouch of colorful stones. I shoved them both into my Item Box and looked around a little more. I didn't find anything so I left, heading out of town. I didn't head towards the trail but the opposite direction, following a trail I hoped lead out of town.

I doubted I'd find another town before nightfall so I hurried along the trail until it joined up with a cobblestone road wide enough for four or five tractors to ride side-by-side. I walked for a few hours, chowing on skinned dwarf. I would've eaten the skin too… but it was just so hairy. There was almost no skin showing whatsoever. And who ever I passed along the road wouldn't be able to tell I was eating a person. I was fortunate to gain a couple skills from him but it wasn't much.

 **[You have learned "Dwarf Language" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Minor Geological Comprehension" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Barter" ability.]**

The last one was definitely going to be useful in the long run. Minor Geological Comprehension allowed me to find weak spots in veins of ore so I could mine faster, if I ever did in the first place… it might be a good idea so I could build some muscle early on.

I thought about it while I continued down the road. Eventually I encountered a caravan resting on the side for the night. From what I could see, there were a few cute girl in the group. I stayed hidden, opened up my Item Box and deposited my knife and withdrew my sword. I connected the sheath with my belt and moved back to the road, pausing as I spot the caravan again. I offered a wave to one of the guards.

I started to move close but he drew his arms, alerting the other guards to my presence. I knew I was too weak to take on so many guards so I dropped my sword and held my hands up in surrender. I was surrounded by four guards in a fair amount of armor and one in robes. The one in robes seem to be in charge, speaking to ask me questions, "Hold. State your business." State my business? What are they? Royalty? I doubt it. They wouldn't be sleeping on the side of the road if they were. I shook my head and softly spoke, "I'm sorry. I was just looking for a place to sleep for the night. The four armored guards looked to the one in the robes. He nodded some, "He's telling the truth." They stow their weapons and nods to me, "Sorry. Can't be too safe. A lot of goblins have been out here robbing and rumors are one of them is a mage. We thought they might've been using a shapeshifting magic to disguise themself." I shrugged and leaned over to grab my sword, hooking it back onto my belt, "I understand. How about a trade? I help if you're attacked and, in exchange, you take me as far as the next city." They look to each other and back to me, "Hold on, we'll ask the caravan leader."

Four out of the five of them headed back to the gathering, assuring those who had woken up that everything was okay and the like. The mage went to talk to an elderly man, likely explaining what I was doing here and what I wanted. They conversed for a few minutes before the elderly man waved me forward. I started to move forward and the guard that stood with me left to take his position. When I approached the old man, he gestured toward a stump in the ground, "Please, sit." I nod and does as he ask. The stump was as comfortable as it seemed… as in, it wasn't. He speaks up once I get settled on it, "So, I hear you want a ride to Evansdale. You're willing to fight for us to get there, right?" I nod, "That's pretty much it." He nods back, "I see… It's a little late but if you're willing to stay the night, we can test your skills in the morning." I blink. I hadn't expected them to be so trusting. It seemed a little fishy. I shook it off. I could worry about it later.

He gave a kindly smile, "If you don't mind, can you take a midnight shift from one of my guards? I'd like to give them a bit more rest. They've been working hard to protect the caravan." I offer another nod, "I don't see why I can't. It gives me time to work on some of my skills." He laughs merrily and nods, "Fair enough, young man. Speaking of, what [Job] do you have?" I smile as he laughs, "I have Wizard and Warrior. I have to say, though, I don't know how I got them and I'm not entirely certain what [Jobs] do. I was… a very sheltered child. I'm sure the only reason I'm not still being sheltered is because the demons destroyed my home country." He nodded to me, "It's fine, child. You're not the first one I've met like this."

He offers a kindly smile, "In order to make up the difference in power with monsters, jobs give us benefits and compensation to allow us to fight on equal terms with powerful foes. Every human is able to level up simply by investing some time into it. If one had the aptitude, they can rank it up into a better one. If you want to learn your level, focus on one of the job and it should come to you." I nod and check my levels, "Warrior is level two and Wizard is level six. Still, I could probably beat some of your guards." I smirk and he laughs, "We'll see boy, we'll see. Go ahead and get some rest. I'll have one of my men wake you up for your shift." I nod and move to lay down.

Nothing seemed to happen during the night so my shift was pretty short.

 **[Day 5]**

After a quick breakfast and stretching, the elderly caravan leader set me up against his weakest guard, a cute little redhead with a kukri knife. I drew my blade and got into a ready stance. Once she did the same, the leader called out, "Begin!" I threw my blade up, distracting the redhead and charged forward, grabbing her wrist and twisting it, disarming her. She quickly regained her focus and fought back, landing a punch on my shoulder. I don't think she trained outside her job so she was relatively weak without her weapon. She was also wearing enough armor that, if I tried punching her back, I'd hurt myself if I did. I kept my grip tight on her wrist but, instead of twisting it, I spun her around as if spinning her while dancing. Once she was facing away, I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her. It embarrassed her, her cheeks almost turning as red as her hair. She tried to get away but I tucked my arms under hers, slipped them upwards and put my hands on her neck, keeping her from moving her arms much. She didn't give up and tried to kick at my legs. I kicked her legs out from under her and toppled the two of us over. I ended up landing on top of her. Before I could pin her legs down, the elderly man shouted out, "Enough! I think Rou has proven his ability plenty." There was a bit of murmuring amongst the group and most of what I heard was positive.

I released Redhead and rolled off of her before standing. I reached down as she rolled over off her stomach and helped her up. She lightly punched my chest and puffed out her cheeks before she turned to grab her weapon. I smirked and turned back to grab my sword, sheathing it before I turned to the old man, "So can I come along?" He smirked and nodded, "Of course boy. You've done wonderfully, even for your low level. I think you'll be a force to be reckoned with later on." I smirked, "I still need to train. I barely had the muscle to hold her." Redhead glared at me and I winked at her. The old man laughed as he stood, "You two look like a good couple." Redhead blushed again and started stuttering but the old man spoke up so the caravan could hear, "Time to move out everyone. Get everything packed up and head out." Since I didn't have anything to pack, I helped Redhead and a couple others pack up.

Fifteen minutes later we were walking down the road.. Or well, most of us were. There were those few that had to ride in the carriages to guide the horses. I was walking with the mage who was trying to teach me magic. I was told I needed a focus, something that let me control the formation of magic itself using magical power outside the body. They let me have their spare, being prepared in case their main one broke. They were flabbergasted as I ate it, as were most of the others that saw me do it.

 **[You have learned "External Mana Operation" ability.]**

The mage was pretty miffed with me but I was able to calm them down. Once I did, I convinced them to teach me magic once the caravan stopped for the night. With something to look forward to, I cheerfully went about my way, conversing with the mage and a couple of the other guards. Redhead glared at me during most of the day but I went over and talked with her and a few of the other women. There were a few weak monsters along the way but they were pretty quickly taken care of. With them, I was able to raise my [Job: Warrior] level to seven. During lunch, the monsters, some **[Horned Rabbits]** , were skinned and cooked. I was able to gain a single skill from them and, though it might come in use early on, it was useless for when I regained my strength.

 **[You have learned "Escape" ability.]**

Too bad I wasn't able to eat any of the horns. Apparently they were sold for pretty decent money to alchemist who used them for some potions. I shrugged it off and finished my meal before I went to train. I wasn't going to rush anyone, knowing how important a meal was. Plus I needed to condition my body. Although I beat Redhead, it was a one-on-one situation. If I had fought two, I would have lost. While I was exercising, the others looked at me oddly. I didn't know why and decided to find out after we set off.

The last two to eat were the attractive chef women, since they had to serve the others first. While it wasn't a big caravan, they had to make two pots of stew, delaying their meal a bit. However, once everyone was fed and the dishes cleaned, we set off again. A few of the warriors still looked at me like I was crazy. I moved to talk to them. After a couple minutes of talking, I facepalmed. Apparently, while it wasn't rare for someone to work out to train, most people relied on their job and combat arts to fight monsters. It was such a waste of potential. I decided to ignore it and just keep on with working.

By the end of the travel for the day, we had covered more than they thought we would've for the day. A few more [Horned Rabbits] had come across the path, as well as a few **[Armored Raccoon Dogs]**. They had pretty strong shells on their back, my sword chipping a bit before I was able to kill it. It was just one of many I had taken from the camp where I was born.

As everyone set everything out for the night, I helped the mage unpack. I was ready to learn magic and he could tell. Once he had everything settled, he started to teach me the basics of magic and showed me a tier-one spell. He specialized in water magic and the spell he used was **[Water Bolt]**. It was a high-speed burst of water meant for penetrating armor and flesh. The amount of water it shot, however, wasn't very much and the distance wasn't great, barely able to make it twenty meters and hit a tree. Point-blank damage was impressive though, piercing through a tree and pricking the person behind it.

After he taught me and showed me an example, I tried to cast my own spell. After an hour of trying, I was finally able to use it. I summoned a black bolt, **[Spear of the End].** I tossed it towards the same tree as the mage and, hitting lower, I put a sizable hole through it from twenty meters. I was pretty impressed with it, doing more damage that I expected from a tier-one spell. That wasn't the end, however, black smoke rising up from the hole. After about five seconds, the hole expanded until it was big enough for me to crawl through. Once the hole was that size, the tree couldn't support it's own weight any more. It began to twist and groan and the people that were near it scampered away before it toppled over.

I turned to the mage, "Is that normal for a tier one spell?" He looked utterly flabbergasted and turned to me, "How the hell did you cast that? It was a demise spell!" I had no idea what he meant by that. After I apologized to everyone for scaring them, I turned back to the tree and started casting again, seeing if I could cast anything else. Since I knew how to cast properly now, it barely took any time to cast a new spell. It was the same one as the mage had cast,

[Water Bolt]. It did considerably more damage though, piercing through the felled tree from twenty meters and poking a sizable hole in a rock another five meters away. I whistled before I heard a thudding behind me. I turn to find a fainted mage. He must've been more tired than he though. I moved to drag him to his bedroll, letting him sleep off his stupor.

I moved to a few of the guards and convinced them to train their swordplay with me until most everyone went to sleep. I was able to level my warrior level by one more and my wizard level by two so I call that pretty good for the day.

When I woke for my shift, I took one of the [Armored Raccoon Dogs] and ate it. I got a skill from it but, other than that, nothing happened.

 **[You have learned "Shell Defense" ability.]**

 **[Day 6]**

It was raining today so most of us stayed in the carriages as we headed to the town. It was a slow boring day and I wasn't able to level my skills any. I was, however, allowed to use the pelts we had gotten from the rabbits and a bit of thread from the chefs to try and make some clothing.

[Horned Rabbit] pelts didn't sell for much, being an item there was almost an excess of.

By night, the rain had stopped but the ground was pretty muddy so most everyone stayed in the carriages to sleep with only the guards outside.

During my shift, I pulled a small crude buckler made of animal shells from my Item Box so I could use [Shell Defense]. It was one of the worse items I took from the camp but I didn't want anyone coming after me for stealing their good equipment.

 **[Day 7]**

After a quick meal, we set off for the day, hoping to reach Evansdale by nightfall. I walked alongside the head caravan today, chatting with the old man who told me the guards were hired from 'The Sword of the Weak', a group of adventurers meant to send low level people on easy quest to help them level before they left and joined groups better suited for their abilities. Most of the guards were from them and, as such, rather new to the business… well, they were assigned to easy missions so there shouldn't be any issues.

As I went to the bathroom a few hours later, I was attacked by a lone **[Night Viper]**. I was able to knock it aside with my shield but it was relentless and quite strong for something so small. It took me five minutes and being bitten to kill it. Well, being bitten wasn't too bad. I bit the head of the snake off a couple seconds after I killed it and gained a number of skills, including one which made me immune to [Night Viper] venom and resistant to other venoms.

 **[You have learned "Thermography" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Venom" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Poison Resistance" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Presence Sensor" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Evil Eye" ability.]**

It was rare every ability I gained was useful but it was one of those times. It also showed how much stronger the creature was than me.

I finished eating the snake and doing my business and headed back to the caravan, moving to the medic to get the bite bandaged. They looked worried, thinking I was poisoned but, since I showed no symptoms, they determined I was fine.

Other than that, the day was nothing special.

We stopped at least half a day from the town. While we could've pushed and made it there, it would've been well after nightfall and they didn't want to go through the process of entering the city late at night.

During my shift, I killed a goblin with [Water Bolt]. It was quiet so no one else noticed. I ate him and gained one skill.

 **[You have learned "Goblin Language" ability.]**

I wasn't sure how much use it was going to be but some skills were like that. In my past life, I had a power that made people slightly dizzy. It ended up saving my life a few times, either making a blade miss entirely or miss enough to make the enemy think they killed me.

I slowly ate the goblin throughout my shift. It wasn't that bad. It tasted kind of like raw octopus. I finished it off a few minutes before my shift ended and went to lay down. Too bad it didn't teach me anything else.

 **[Day 8]**

We walked at a leisurely pace towards the town, not in a big rush to get there. I mostly talked to the women being transported, getting to know about the world I was in. We were in Sternbild Kingdom on our way to the fortified city of Trient. Evansdale was on the way and they had planned to stop there to trade some of their good anyway. I was able to make friends with them by the time we arrived to the town, including Redhead and I planned on staying in touch with them in the future.

Apparently there were very few, if any communication devices so I needed to figure out a way to make some so I could give them to the girls.

Once we got to the gate, it took nearly an hour to check the goods before we went through the gates. They had to check every last item since there was apparently some kind of issues with a cheap drug that was said to have no drawbacks. I didn't believe it and they found nothing so we went into the town. By my standards it was rather small, having no more than five hundred people but it was quaint. I followed the caravan, which was apparently called [Star God's Pavilion] to the market and helped them set up before I went to talk with the leader.

He smiled at me, "So I guess you're off then boy." I rub the back of my head, "Yeah, I am. I need to train and work on my Jobs." He nods, "Stay safe then.. And take Rubellia with you. She needs some practice." I look slightly confused and he laughs, turning to point at Redhead, "Her, boy. You beat her pretty quickly and she's been feeling a bit down since then." I nod and wave at the old man before moving to Redhead, "Hey, Ruby." She blinks and looks to me, "Come on. The old man wanted me to train you a bit before you left." She puffs out her cheeks but follows.

It took ten minutes of walking before she said anything, "Do you even know where you're going?" In truth, I didn't. I cleared my throat and turned to her, "Not at all." She facepalmed and turned to walk another direction, not the one we came from, "This way. There's a training area we can use in the adventurer's guild." I follow and, after about ten minutes of walking, we reach the center of the city. She heads to a shop with the image of a goblin with X's for eyes on it. I smirked at the image. It was at least somewhat similar to a cartoon image from my world.

We headed inside and went up to the counter. Redhead waited for the catgirl to finish down the counter before she moved to us, "Hello. We'd like to use the training area." The catgirl nodded, "Certainly. What metal plates do you have?" Redhead raised a copper plate and looked to me, "I don't have one." She blinks, "How do you not have one and still manage to kill armored raccoon dogs?" I look at her, slightly confused, "Why do I need to be in the adventurer's guild to be strong enough to do that?" She looked a little puzzled by that but didn't say anything. The catgirl cheerfully chirped, "You can sign up here if you wish. The only way you can use the training area is if you're registered." I sigh, "Alright, I'll register." The catgirl claps excited and beckons me over as she walks down the counter, "Come on down this way. You're human, right?" I nod and she continues, "Good, we won't need an evolution card then." She giggles at my confused face, "It's for monster races that want to be adventurers. Monsters evolve into stronger monsters, don't you know?" I shake my head, "No. I was rather sheltered until the collapse of my nation." She pouts, "I'm sorry to hear. Don't worry, I'll give you an information scroll to help you out." I smirk, able to get more information.

We stop at the end of the counter and she pulls up a blank card about the size and shape of a license, "This is your Identification Card. It'll be used to make sure you are you. You won't have to use it too often because Rank-Plates are used for most transactions. They're also accepted in other nations, something everyone has agreed to, so you can use that around them too." I nodded and she slide the card across to me, "If you wouldn't mind putting a drop of blood on this." I pull my dagger out of the sheath and prick my finger before squeezing it to make a drop of blood come out. As it landed on the card, an image of me appeared in the air, including my name. Fortunately it didn't state my age. It would've been a tough one to explain. The catgirl wasn't paying attention, leaning over to do something. Once back above the counter she chirped happily and presented me with a copper plate, "Okay. That'll be two silver coins." I nod and open my Item Box and, grabbing the coin purse left to me by my mother, I pulled out two silver plate and two silver coins. I couldn't tell which was the currency she wanted so I held out both. She took the ones that actually looked like coins so I put the plates back. I hoped she wasn't jipping me but she seemed honest enough.

She chirped again and handed over the plate and the card, "Here you go!" I took the items and tossed them into my Item Box before moving back to Redhead. Once I got to her, she started moving towards the back of the guild. Once we had gone back outside, albeit around back, we entered the training area. It was a mess, looking as if it had barely been touched other than some weathered scars on a couple of the training dummies. I sighed. It was such a waste of potential. I dragged Redhead over to one of the sparring circles, "Alright, come at me with everything you've got." She charged at me with her sword aimed at my chest. It was easy to knock it aside, grab her arm and slam her down on the ground, twisting her arm behind her back and placing my foot on her back, "Too slow, too predictable. Don't show your attack in a melee until you're a couple steps away." I released her and stepped back, letting her stand and rearm herself.

A few hours of knocking her down, she was exhausted and I, while tired, kept training, using a wooden sword to beat up one of the dummies. While it wouldn't really help my level, I could at least condition my body a bit. At least until I ate enough.

Once Redhead had recovered, I stopped and we headed back to the caravan.

 **[Day 9]**

I woke up a bit before dawn today and headed out to the training area again. The caravan was going to be in town for a few more days and I planned on training with Redhead til they left.

I went to their stall and talked with the workers there until Redhead showed up. I didn't have to wait long for her to get there and, as soon as she arrived, I took her down to the training area in the adventurer's guild.

After making sure she remembered what I taught her yesterday, we left and headed to the forest outside the city to train. She'd get most of the materials from what we killed but I'd end up with the brain and hearts.

We mostly killed weaker monsters through the day, mainly [Horned Rabbits] and a couple [Armored Raccoon Dogs]. I didn't get to each much of them so I didn't gain any abilities. I was able to raise my Warrior level to sixteen, while having Redhead watch me kill the [Armored Raccoon Dogs] without chipping my weapons. Once I showed her, I had her do it. She raised her Warrior level from eight to twelve.

As we started to head back to the city, we ran into an injured kobold. It a good meter taller than I was and it wore what looked like a bear's skull on its head. Otherwise, he wore only a loincloth. He brandished a dagger at us but it was easy to knock it away and kill him. I didn't gain a level in my class but I got to eat him, even though Redhead was disturbed I did so.

 **[You have learned "Intimidating Roar" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Heavy Blow" ability.]**

Hm. I wonder what kind of result I'd get if I used Intimidating Roar and Evil Eye on the same enemy...

 **[Day 10]**

It was the caravans last day in town so, after sparring with Redhead for a few hours, I took her out for lunch. Since it was a small town, it wasn't anything special. It was a part of a monster called **[Big Cocco]**. It tasted exactly like chicken. From what Redhead said, they're monsters that are typically hunted by low level adventurers for early level experience. Might be a good idea to train against some later on.

Once we had eaten, we parted ways and I went back to the forest. Once hidden from people just on the inside of the forest, I opened up my item box and pulled out a short spear. While I'd like to use a regular spear, the refugee camp I was in didn't seem to have any. I kept my sword and crude shield out as well. The spear was next to useless against night vipers. At least, it was for the moment.

Nothing abnormal happened during todays hunt and I was able to gather four [Horned Rabbits], two [Armored Raccoon Dogs] and three [Night Vipers]. The rabbits and raccoon dogs I killed with [Water Bolt] so I could level my Wizard job while I dealt with the vipers with my sword.

I was able to find two new prey on my way back to the town, several **[Seven Colored Bats]** and a lone **[Demon Spider]**. I fought the spider while I was at a disadvantage since I had literally walked into its web and my off-hand had gotten caught. I was able to cut its fangs off before it could bite me but its web was difficult to handle since it was hard to cut through. I ended up having to discard my sword and use my knife to disarm the spider. I say disarm because it was still alive. It just didn't have any legs left to move with.

It took nearly an hour and was well after nightfall before I was able to get myself and my sword out of the web. I wanted to get out of the forest as soon as possible since, from what I heard from the caravan leader, a lot of powerful nocturnal animals and other things roamed the forest. I felt certain I wasn't able to take any of them on.

While I wasn't able to rush out of the forest, with it being so dark, I did move somewhat quickly. Fortunately I didn't encounter anything else during my half-hour journey back. Apparently most of the beast of the forest learned to avoid the night, likely because of what came out.

Once I was near the city, I pulled out a few of the creatures from my Item Box and snacked on them. Ah, if only I had time to cook them.

 **[You have learned "Spider Thread Creation" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Endurance" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Evil Eye Resistance" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Echolocation" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Pump Up" ability.]**

The bats tasted like rubbery beef and the spider tasted like raw shrimp. The skills were all pretty useful but I wasn't able to control the thread so I had to hunt some more spiders later on to see if I gained a skill that let me control it.

I was able to level my jobs a bit more too.

 **[Day ?]**

I don't think I've explained my ability, **[Absorption: Consumption]** , properly, so I'm putting this here. With it, I can eat anything. No matter how hard or poisonous something is, I would be able to eat it. My teeth can tear through the likes of iron and gold easily while toxins would be restructured, rendered harmless and edible in my body. The characteristics of whatever I ate, whether it be an item or another living being, are absorbed and assimilated into me so that I could use them as well.

However, just because I've eaten something that has an ability, doesn't guarantee that I'll absorb its powers. For example, if what I just ate was a living being, its freshness is an important factor as to whether I'll get an ability or not. After its death, I have twelve hours to eat it before the chance to absorb its abilities are gone.

That said, there are certain parts that give abilities easier than others such as the heart and the brain, where most of the power is concentrated. Physical strengthening and an improved recovery rate can also be obtained in addition to the ability absorbed. Furthermore, if the being that I consumed was stronger than me, there was a certainty of simultaneously acquiring multiple abilities. Moreover, it's possible to strengthen an ability that's been acquired, by consuming the original ability owner multiple times. Although [Absorption] isn't strong on its own, the more I eat, the stronger I become.

So, to sum it up, the more I eat, the more abilities I get, the stronger my body is and the faster I heal. I might be weak at first but there's nearly no way I can be stopped once I've eaten enough.

* * *

 **End Chapter**

 **[1]** Most of Day 0 is similar to the start of the manga and novel due to the fact there is no better way to begin Re:Monster. It pretty much has to begin like that if you're using him as the main character.

I'll make a page for his abilities he's gained through his journey as well as his proficiency with them.

It'll look something like….

[Divine Protection of the Great God of Origin and Demise] - 10/10

[Job: Warrior] - Level 18/100 _(was 2)_

[Job: Wizard] - Level 17/100 _(was 6)_

[Internal Mana Control] - 3/10 _(was 2)_

[Magician's Wisdom] - 2/10 _(was 1)_

[External Mana Operation] - 3/10 _(was 1)_

[Escape] - 1/10

[Shell Defense] - 2/10 _(was 1)_

Give me your feedback and tell me what you think of it so far. I'll probably end up making adjustments here and there to the job and abilities but it shouldn't be much.

If you're wondering what he looks like, it's basically him as a hobgoblin, but with normal skin instead of black. I mean the color (or lack of if you want to be specific) black not the skin color.

The reason I have him capable of killing night vipers is because he was able to as a goblin while he was around human strength, give or take a bit. Here he's above average human strength, mainly due to his job as a warrior. If you follow the novel version, (SLIGHT SPOILER) it says humans grow stronger as they level their classes. Wizards would have more mana and faster cast-times while warriors would have faster swings and harder hits… well, mostly. It does depend on your class.

I will admit, it seems like he is leveling his jobs a little quickly but you have to remember that Redhead in the main story gained something like 19 levels by killing three kobolds. Getting to 16 from 2 from killing a couple dozen monsters is actually a little slow.

I do have a question for you all. Should I use Tanuki instead of Raccoon Dog? They are literally the same thing but the japanese call them Tanuki. If so, I'll change it.


	2. Day 11-20

I own nothing relating to any series, including Re:Monster.

 **Re:Monster Human Edition**

 **[NOTICE: I am adding non-canon monsters in this chapter and future chapters. If you don't like them, too bad.]**

 **[Day 11]**

I didn't feel like hunting today so I ate some of the leftover monsters instead. Something strange happened as I ate the last head of a [Seven Colored Bat]. I gained a skill. It has been over twelve hours so I shouldn't have been able to gain it. It was odd but I wasn't going to complain.

 **[You have learned "Vampirephilia" ability.]**

I didn't know if it was going to much use at the moment since I haven't really been injured too badly yet, other than a bite from a [Night Viper]... still, even abilities that appear useless to begin with could be useful.

After eating, I headed down to the training area of the guild. It was still empty, no one other than myself using it. It was a little depressing, really. I was, however, able to use a few of my skills, such as [Heavy Blow]. With it, I was able to drive my fist half way into one of the training dummies. It hurt my fist a bit but it wasn't too bad. A minute of tingling and it was back to normal. I really needed to strengthen my body some more.. Which meant I needed to hunt.

Well, nothing wrong with that. I pack up my equipment and head out of the city towards a section of the forest I hadn't been to yet. It looked more like a haunted forest than the rest of the forest, with dead trees and nearly-marshy ground to walk on. It didn't seem all that promising for hopes of something to eat.

After an hour of searching, I came across a pristine white cat. It was large for a cat, as long as one of my arms and twice as thick. It seemed to be eating a bone. I couldn't tell of what but it was definitely bone. I decided to call it **[White Bobcat]** since, although it didn't look like one, it was appropriately sized. I would've sniped at it from afar but I had no ranged weaponry, so I casually walked up with my short spear at the ready and my crude shield raised.

It noticed me early on and turned towards me, its ears flat against its head, it's back arching and its fur becoming all fluffy-looking. Even before it did that, I had decided to skin it to make a blanket out of it. Now I wanted it even more. As I stepped closer, it hissed and swung at the air, its razor sharp claws threatening danger. It just made me drool. It was clearly a strong monster, one I wanted to eat.

As I took one more step, it jumped at me, its claws coming down to attack. I raised my shield, blocking one paw and mostly blocking the second. One claw scratched me, however, getting rather deep. It hurt but it wasn't anything I wasn't used to. I swung my spear and stabbed one of its back legs. While it wouldn't kill it, it would slow it down. The poison I added to the spear tip might kill it though… or at least weaken it enough for me to kill it. I moved back and pulled my spear out of its leg, shaking off the blood and applying more poison. It definitely started to look woozy but it didn't collapse.

It even moved closer, growling and hissing at me. I held my shield up again and thrust my spear towards it. It tried to move away but apparently the poison I created made it woozy enough for it to stumble, allowing me to pierce its side and spread more poison into its system. It wasn't long after I pulled my spear out of its side that it died, succumbing to the poison. I didn't feel like skinning it there, so I stored it in my Item Box and continued to hunt.

A few minutes later I came across a pigman, an **[Orc]** if you will. He was alone and it seemed like his species was the type to rely on brute strength. It was clear with his fat, bulky form. Well, I could use spider silk to trip him up, even if I couldn't weave with it. I climbed a tree and jumped from tree to tree until I was above him. I started to shoot webs out of my fingertips. It surprised him plenty and he started to get tangled up as he looked around for the spider. While I doubt the amount I covered him with would completely restrain him, it would definitely slow him down.

I hopped down off the branch I was on and stabbed him in the shoulder with the short spear, ruining it and making him drop the pickaxe he was carrying. Since he was now disarmed, I quickly shot more spider silk out of my fingers and completely restrained him. There isn't much better than a living test du-.. Err, I mean, a sparring partner. Still, I had to find more spiders so I could use the silk better.

I pulled the orc over to the tree I jumped down from and set him against it. I pushed the butt of my spear into the ground and popped my knuckles, grinning happily. It didn't seem like the orc thought that way as he paled, afraid of what I was going to do.

I moved forward and used [Heavy Blow], wondering what happened when it was used on a living creature. I hit his right chest and, from the sound of it, I broke a few ribs. I hoped I hadn't broken it too badly as I still wanted to… spar. Since I knew what happened if I used [Heavy Blow], I decided to use [Pump Up] with it. I aimed for his stomach this time, not wanting to hit his left chest since it was likely I'd break more ribs and probably pierce his heart.

Turns out I didn't have to worry about that in the first place, my blow to his stomach hitting much harder than with just [Heavy Blow] alone. Hard enough to burst several organs by the sound of it. I was hoping he would last longer but I'd just have to find someone to make my subordinate and get him strong enough to last in a fight with me. Preferably someone pretty stupid.

I pulled my spear back out of the ground and stabbed the orc in the face, putting him out of his misery. Once he was dead, I unsheathed my sword and cut off one of his legs. I gained a [Job Talent] once his leg was cut off.

 **[You have learned "Dismember" job talent.]**

From how it sounded, it'd let more easily dismember monsters in exchange for a bit of stamina, dead or alive. I decided to use it on the orc and my body moved on its own, setting the sword down and drawing my knife. I started to skin the orc before I forced the skill to stop. I didn't like it, not in the slightest. All it did was allow me to take apart while it was dead. If it was alive, it'd probably aim to cut off one of the limbs. I didn't plan on using it any time soon, rather having control over my body at all times.

I pulled the knife out of the orc and used his shirt to get the blood off it before I picked up the leg and took a bite out of it. It really did taste like pig. In fact, it tasted like high quality pork. Once I finished off the leg, I got a skill from him.

 **[You have learned "Libido" ability.]**

… Right. No need to explain that one.

Next I cut the head of the orc off and slowly ate that. Once I had finished it off, I gained another two skills.

 **[You have learned "Orc Language" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Analyze" ability.]**

The language I understand… analyze? Why would an [Orc] have such a convenient ability? I decided to test it on the sword I had in my hand.

 **[Short Sword(Normal)]**

 **A weapon used for slashing attacks.**

 **Covered in [Night Viper] poison.**

Pretty obvious but probably going to be useful. I took his pickaxe and stowed it in my Item Box. While I was in there, I took out the bag of colorful stones I got from the dwarf I ate. I took out the stones and used [Analyze] on it.

 **[Fire Spirit Stone(Rare)]**

 **A stone that contains a weak fire spirit.**

These must be the spirit stones he was talking about. I pop the stone in my mouth and eat it while I look in the bag. Looks like all he has is fire stones. I shrug and dump the contents into my mouth and chew them up, gaining two abilities.

 **[You have learned "Pyrokinesis" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Fire Resistance" ability.]**

Nice. Now I can cook my meat on the fly. I cut off another limb of the orcs and cook it using [Pyrokinesis], happy that I could now savor the taste of my prey. Fried orc tasted so much better than raw orc.

I decided that was enough for the night and stuffed the rest of the orc into my Item Box. The wound on my arm from the cat was already mostly healed. Just to be safe, I wrapped it up with some non-sticky spider web.

I found a [Demon Spider] on the way back and burned its web with [Pyrokinesis]. It burned too well and almost caught the trees on fire. Killing the spider was pretty easy, though. To level my [Job: Wizard], I cast [Water Bolt] a few times and pierced each of its legs, rendering it immobile. Then I cast it a few more times, using considerably less mana, to pierce all eight of its eyes. While it was torturing the creature, I leveled the job a few times. I even gained a new spell to cast, the rank two water spell **[Water Cutter]**. It shoots a blast of pressurized water at my target. I used it to cut the spider in two, right down the middle.

I went ahead and cooked it, chewing on the shot off limbs as I left the forest and went back to my inn room.

 **[Day 12]**

I skinned the [White Bobcat] I killed yesterday and stored its fur in my Item Box. After cooking it, I ate it. It tasted sort of like, well, cat. Don't judge. The only cats I ate were causing mayhem with their psychic powers. If I had to compare it with another animal, it'd be wild boar. Mainly due to the muscle it had gained while fighting to survive in the wild. I gained one skill as soon as I ate the last bite of the cat. While big, it apparently wasn't all that strong.

 **[You have learned "Triple Slice" ability.]**

Pretty self-explanatory. With one swing of my sword, if it hit, it created three slices. I went down to the training area of the hall to test it down. The slices went only as deep as the original but I was able to stretch the area out to over a foot apart. On my last swing, I added [Heavy Blow] and [Pump Up]. The three abilities together allowed me to cut through the wooden dummy, separating it into four parts. I gained two more [Combat Art] too.

 **[You have learned "Swift Slice" combat art.]**

 **[You have learned "Heavy Slice" combat art.]**

I went ahead and tested the two abilities. They didn't act like the last one I got, allowing me to move how I wanted even while I used them. I moved to the next training dummy and used the combination of [Heavy Blow], [Pump Up], [Triple Slice], [Swift Slice] and [Heavy Slice] on a downward stroke and I was able to tear apart the training dummy. Honestly, I didn't expect it to go all the way through… The swing ruined my sword through, the low quality of the blade not able to keep up with my abilities. I went ahead and ate it as I pulled a fresh sword from my Item Box.

With the first bite I gained a new ability. The rest of the sword just strengthened the ability I got.

 **[You have learned "Improved Slashing Power" ability.]**

My already overpowered sword strokes gained even more power. Too bad I prefered the spear. I was still able to use the abilities I gained but the spear was more suited to piercing than slicing.

I headed back out to the forest, moving past the dead area to the one that seemed more like a garden. I was attacked, however, by a murder[1] of blood red crows the size of my head. I called them **[Blood Crows]** for obvious reasons.

I was able to stab and kill the first two with my poisoned spear and fend off a third with my crude shield while I drew my sword. There were quite a few more but they didn't fly down to attack me until I killed the first two. I took care of most of them with a spray of poison but I had to fight off four more with my sword, including the one I blocked with my shield at first. Their feathers were hard to cut through. Stabbing wasn't really an issue since the power was concentrated on the point but there was more area covered when slicing and their feathers seemed pretty resistant towards it.

I won in the end, of course, but I had a few peck marks and slices on my arms. Nothing that wouldn't heal up after I ate the birds. The first few I ate whole and the rest I skinned and cooked before eating. There were nearly fifteen birds, each the size of my head but, with my natural gluttony, I ate each and every one of them. I only gained two abilities from them, however.

 **[You have learned "Carrion Feeder" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Slashing Resistance" ability.]**

My wounds were completely healed before I had finished so I decided to hunt some more.

I finally reached the garden area I had been headed for in the first place. It seemed pretty peaceful, other than the fact I got attacked by a **[Green Slime]** as soon as I got three steps into the forest. Stabbing and cutting it didn't seem to work and neither did the poison so I burned it up with [Pyrokinesis]. Once it was dead, I popped its core into my mouth and ate it, gaining two abilities.

 **[You have learned "Physical Damage Reduction" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Self Body-Fluid Control" ability.]**

Both were nice, the first lowering the amount of damage I took from all physical sources. It didn't do anything for magical sources but blades, arrows and every other source of physical attacks did less damage. [Slashing Resistance] gave me better defense than [Physical Damage Reduction] towards slashing attacks, however, so I'm guessing that there is a [Physical Damage Resistance], which would be the upgrade to reduction.

I kept moving around the garden forest, finding some fruits and vegetables around to take. Most of them were poisonous, not that it bothered me. They tasted pretty good, most of them sweet in flavor. One of them, however, tasted like pork. Not quite as good as the [Orc] but pretty good.

Other than a couple butterflies and worms, I didn't find any other monsters. I didn't bother eating them, either, allowing them to pollinate the plants and fertilize the ground so I could come back later and gather more plants to eat. They tasted pretty good, even if they were poisonous.

I left the garden and encountered a **[Bone-Spike Hedgehog]** , a normal hedgehog but with what looked like bone spikes instead of quills on its back. It was the size of a normal hedgehog, however, so it was easy to pick up and eat. I didn't gain any skills from it but it tasted good, almost like chicken, if a bit more chewy.

I didn't find anything else on my way back to the city so I arrived without problem.

In my room, I gathered up some alcohol from my Item Box and drank a bit, enjoying a stiff drink. Ah, I wonder what happened to the alcohol I bought before I died…

 **[Day 13]**

The day started off pretty normal. A bit of training at the guild grounds, a quick lunch and then off to hunt. Little did I know it wasn't going to end normally. And holy hell did it not end normally.

I encountered a few creatures here and there, most I didn't bother killing. I did find a couple of [Green Slimes] fighting each other and I ended up burning them up with [Pyrokinesis] and eating their cores. I didn't gain any skills but I did strengthen the two I already had.

The next thing I encountered was a [Demon Spider]. I used two [Water Cutter]s to cut off its limbs and a second one to remove it's head. I then ate it after removing its carapace and grilling it. It tasted like grilled shrimp.

I finally gained the ability to use the silk I could generate more accurately. And I gained another skill along with it, one useful for scouting.

 **[You have learned "Silk Spinning Arts" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Expanded Field of Vision" ability.]**

Now, here is where the day got interesting. I found another [Orc], this one alone like the last one. It was sleeping, though, leaning up against a tree and surrounded by a field of blood and what looked like the remains of several [White Bobcats]. His skin was wriggling oddly, like some kind of parasite was eating him from the inside out. I'll admit I was interested but I was hungrier than I was interested. I tied him up with my silk and, while he was still sleeping, I started to eat him. I didn't know if what was happening would still go on if he was dead so I had decided it was best to eat him while he was alive. Oddly, he didn't wake up.

When I was done with his first arm, I gained an ability. Something I didn't exactly understand at the time.

 **[You have learned "Evolution" ability.]**

It didn't really make sense to me so I ignored it and continued to eat the [Orc] until he was limbless. Honestly, there isn't much better pork than [Orc] meat. The [Orc] never woke up so I was able to finish him off without any hassle. I didn't get any more abilities but I was able to strengthen [Analyze] and [Minor Geological Comprehension].

I tried using [Evolution] but it didn't seem to do anything. I shrugged it off and continued to hunt, gathering some supplies for later.

I didn't come across anything major except for a **[Rot Skunk]**. It was a green and white skunk, the size of a regular skunk, but when it shot its spray, it unleashed a corrosive poison that caused anything it touched to decay. I was able to stab it while it was spraying a [Horned Rabbit], preventing it from using it on me. I would've liked to have gotten the horned rabbit but it was long corroded before I killed the skunk, to the point where it wasn't even worth eating.

I flash-cooked the skunk with [Pyrokinesis] and took sizable bites out of it as I wandered to the edge of the forest. I didn't gain any abilities but I was able to strengthen [Venom] a bit.

I felt pretty tired, even when I shouldn't be, but I was in a safe area, in the plains, walking towards the city so I shouldn't be under attack by monsters. It took me nearly three times as long to get to the inn I was staying at and I was dead tired. I stumbled into my room, activated my sensor abilities and passed out onto my bed.

Now, here's where things top out on the weird scale…

While I was sleeping, I got a… let's call it a notice.

 **You have exceeded the minimum required level.**

 **Special requirements Blessing of the Great God of Origin and Demise, Birth of a New Species cleared, [Evolve] to [High Human: New Species] now possible.**

 **Will you [Evolve]?**

 **YesNo**

Huh? What's this?

Whatever, just let me sleep. I select Yes and fall asleep again.

 **[Day 14]**

When I woke up, I had found my body had grown and my skin was covered in meaningful black tattoos.

Honestly, if I hadn't gained the [Evolution] ability yesterday, I would have absolutely no idea what was going on.

Since I had grown, I wondered if my face had changed as well. I moved over to the mirror in the room and took a look.

I looked exactly as I did before I died, albeit the black eyes instead of brown and some of the tattoo[2] reaching my face[3].

What's more, I had gone from around five-foot-five to six-foot-three overnight. And I felt absolutely no discomfort from the growth. If anything, I felt a strange omnipotence.

Though that feeling quickly faded when I realized just how weak I really was. In fact, I was far weaker than I was before I was reborn.

I pulled the remainder of the orc out of my Item Box and roasted it, quickly devouring it. I was still hungry, my stomach rumbling rather loudly. I licked my lips and decided to go thief hunting. After all, it was a public service to take care of thieves in a city such as this. If I fed myself at the same time… well, that was just a bonus.

Plus it gave me some test du-... I mean, sparring partners. I wanted to see how strong I was and there is no better use than a sparring partner.

I left the inn after washing my mouth up with a pouch full of silver coins and a few silver plates. If that wasn't enough to attract some thieves, nothing would.

I went to the market and 'dropped' the pouch, letting those around see what I hate. A few people looked and as I left the market, I could tell there were quite a few following. At least six or seven people. One was female, judging by Echolocation. I didn't like killing females. It always left a sour taste in my mouth.

I went down a back alley and most of them followed. Two of them looked like they were circling around but they went out of the range of my sensor abilities so I wasn't really sure.

I walk lazily towards the other end, acting oblivious to the situation. I stopped as soon as the two came back into range of my sensor abilities. I was right, they had gone around to cut me off. I couldn't help but grin. I took my weapons off and set them to the side. Since this was me testing my strength, it'd be no good if I killed them too quickly.

As they drew closer, I could hear them chuckling. I couldn't help but widen my grin. They thought I was doing something stupid. I pop my knuckles and crack my neck, getting myself ready for when they attacked.

When the first one was a couple steps away, I pushed towards him, covering the distance in less than a second. Honestly, my newfound power and speed were astonishing. I took one swing at the first thief, using my full power. I would like to say he lasted longer but, from how it felt, I crushed most of his ribcage. If his ribs didn't pierce his lungs, he would've been crippled for a long time, possibly forever. I couldn't help but grin. I hadn't even used any abilities.

The second thief tried to slash at me with a shortsword but it was pathetically slow. I knocked his hand aside and used [Heavy Blow], just to see what kind of power I could put out with it.

It was more than I expected. My fist literally went right through him. My hand was right against his spine… and I had punched through his ribcage.

I grabbed his still-beating heart as I pulled my hand out, stuffing it into my mouth and devouring it. I didn't get any abilities. It was more of a scare tactic, really. I laughed at their faces. They had paled considerably and the female had turned tail, trying to run away. I stopped her movement with [Spider Silk] and tied her up.

While the others weren't running, they were apprehensive about attacking. When I thought about attacking, three of them decided to charge in on me, two from in front of me and one from behind me. I used [Intimidating Roar] and [Evil Eye] on the two in front and dropped down, spinning around with my leg outstretched and tripping the one attacking from behind. As they fell, I kicked them with the bottom of my foot, pushing them backwards. I held back, of course, only cracking their ribs. I still had to test my other powers. Still, I gained a new job from it.

 **[You have gained "Job: Brawler".]**

 **[You have learned "Sweeping Kick" combat art.]**

 **[You have learned "Low Blow" combat art.]**

Pretty simple job, it just boosted my physical stats and let me fight more efficiently.

I spun back around to face the three I stunned. Ah.. Looks like the one in the back passed out. Wimp. I sigh. While they were good for seeing how strong I was, it wasn't really a test of my abilities. I released [Evil Eye] and they fell to their knees, "How boring." I didn't want to waste any more time. My roar attracted people. I moved to grab my sword, unsheathing it and taking care of the last two living thieves… well, except the female. While she was rather plain looking, she was still a female. It would've left a bad taste in my mouth. I quickly stuffed the bodies into my Item Box and moved to talk to the female, grinning at her.

She tried to scream but I cut her off with a gag, using a bit more [Spider Silk]. I cleaned myself off and wash some of the blood off the cobblestone, having to weaken my water magic considerably to do so. I gained a new spell while I was at it, too.

 **[You have learned "Cleansing Rain" rank one water spell.]**

Rather than actual rainfall, it allowed me to wash things. It could be useful, especially for things like blood.

I sighed and hefted her onto my shoulder. I decided to test something I haven't been able to do in a while, or even need to in my past life. I took a running start towards one side of the alley and planted my foot against the wall. I quickly pushed myself off and upward, jumping to the building on the other side of the alley. I do this three more times before I pull myself and the woman onto the roof.

I set her down and put my sword holster back on, turning to talk to her. Nothing serious, really. I basically just told her to stop her life of crime or I'd eat her. I wasn't really but she didn't know that.

Once she agreed, I lowered her to the ground and unbound her. She quickly ran off. Well, I was pretty sure she wouldn't tell anyone what happened. I took a running start and jumped to the next building before sliding down the wall. While I had plenty of food, I couldn't eat it out in the open, so I walked to the exit of the city and headed back to the forest. It wasn't even noon, so I had plenty of time to relax and hunt… but I turned around and headed towards the guild building. I decided to do some quest while I was eating so I had something to do.

It was mostly gathering supplies but there were a few hunting request, mainly for the materials. I took as many as I could what was allowed for my plate level[4]. Since the quest just wanted the materials, I could boost some of my abilities with their meat. Apparently monster meat wasn't all that popular. I couldn't figure out why, though. They all tasted great.

The humanoids I understand. No one wants to eat something sentient… well, no one but me. I really didn't care if I did or not. It was more about the abilities for me. If I could get new abilities or strengthen my old ones, it was all good to me.

I headed back out of the city and slipped into the forest before I pulled out one of the six humans I killed, chopped him up and made some kabobs out of him before using [Pyrokinesis] to cook him. Humans weren't really all that good as kabobs, better suiting being cooked as a pork-like dish… but there were others in the forest, so I had to make it look like I wasn't eating people.

Even though I had eaten most of the first person, I hadn't gained a skill and I was still hungry.

Surprisingly, on my last bite, I actually gained something… too bad his level was abysmal. It hadn't even reached fifteen. I had barely used my other jobs and they were at least double its level.

 **[You have learned "Job: Thief" ability.]**

Well, no need to explain this one.

I went ahead and prepared another person before I really started hunting. Yeah, I was still hungry, though not as much. Apparently [Evolution] took a lot out of me… or my [High Human] race just needed a lot of food. I was a [New Species] after all.

Well, nothing unexpected happened today. I ate, I hunted some weak creatures, I ate some more. I got a couple abilities from the humans and strengthened my existing ones by eating a couple monsters. I was even able to get [Job: Thief] to the high fifties by eating all six humans. 

**[You have learned "Pickpocket" job talent.]**

 **[You have learned "Silent Stab" Combat Art.]**

 **[You have learned "Kidnap" job talent.]**

 **[You have learned "Wiretapping" job talent.]**

 **[You have learned "Unlock" job talent.]**

 **[Day 15]**

I didn't bother training today, heading out to the forest to hunt some more. I wasn't nearly as hungry as I was yesterday, confirming that [Evolution] took a lot of energy… though, thinking about it, I wasn't certain if it was because I used the ability or if was something like the [Job] system.

Ah, about those, too. My jobs are [Warrior: 31], [Wizard: 29], [Brawler: 3] and [Thief: 59]. When I checked my job levels, I noticed something else. I had a level that didn't relate to my job. [Rou: 2]. I wondered if it had anything to do with my evolution skill…

To check, I tried to activate [Evolution]. Like last time, nothing happened.

Mmm… I might have to wait til tonight to find out. Anyway, I went back into the forest and encountered a new type of monster I haven't fought yet. Opposite the [White Cat], it was a **[Black Wolf]**. From what I saw, it was alone and I confirmed it with Echolocation and Thermography. Honestly, it would've made a good pet. I wonder if I could intimidate it into submission. Couldn't hurt to try.

I walked into it's line of sight, grinning. I always wanted a pet and this wolf looked plenty strong. It reacted nicely too, jumping to its feet and baring its fangs in a threatening manner. I used [Evil Eye] and [Intimidating Roar] to silence it. It flinched, obviously scared but it must've had [Evil Eye Resistance] because it ended up charging towards me. I didn't feel like letting it bite me, so I turned to the side as it got closer and wrapped one arm under his front two legs and my other around its throat. I turned to bite at me but I used [Intimidating Roar] again, making it flinch and whine.

It stopped struggling but I could tell it was looking for a chance to fight back. Hm. I'd had to scare it until it learned to obey.

I tied it up with [Spider Silk] and set it to the side. Since [Evil Eye] wouldn't work and it was more likely to attack with [Intimidating Roar], I decided to try something else.

Making sure it was still watching, I started casting [Water Cutter] without holding back my mana, letting it come out at it's usual strength. I pointed it at the wolf and, a second before I cast it, I slid my hand an inch upwards, sending the magic into the trees instead. It was much more powerful than before, cutting through several trees and carving a deep gouge into another one.

Well, I had thought I was going to have to display more of my power but the wolf seemed to understand after that and it calmed down. Or so I hoped. Honestly, it looked like it tasted good, so I wouldn't have minded if it attacked. I would just kill it and eat it afterwards.

I mostly untied the wolf, keeping enough for a harness and a collar. It didn't like it but I didn't want it running off. It was going to be my pet, of course.

Anyway, it did try running away a couple times and it bit at the leash but, since it was unable to break it, it started to listen to me. Well, it at least followed me around. I couldn't get it to help me as I hunted some other monsters but, as I fed it, he seemed to become more accepting. Hm.. hopefully I could completely tame it soon.

Anyway, I pulled him along to the near-dead area of the forest I had gone to before. It seemed to be a bit scared of the area and understandably so. The first thing we encountered was a child-sized praying mantis with poisonous scythes. I called it a **[Poison Mantis]**. It was bigger than the wolf and it's arms moved rather quickly. It even ended up chipping the sword I was using.

Well, it wasn't broken and I was able to cut one of its arms off with the sword while preparing to cast [Water Bolt].

Surprisingly, the wolf bit the mantis. I couldn't tell if it was because it was helping me or just hungry but it distracted the bug long enough for me to cut the other limb off and cast [Water Bolt]. Like [Water Cutter], it was boosted when I evolved, tearing through the mantises chest with ease. It didn't go much further, however, splashing to the ground no more than a meter behind the bug.

I picked up one of the scythes and started to eat it. I had to stop half way through because the wolf was acting funny…

Well, it was a [Poison Mantis]. Maybe more than just its claws were poisonous. Well, I couldn't really be affected, not with [Poison Resistance] for when I get hit and [Absorption: Consumption] for when I eat it.

Anyway, since I ate the mantis, I had access to it's poison and anti-venom. I moved to the wolf and opens its maw, sticking my hand inside to force the anti-venom down its throat.

While it wouldn't recover right away, it _would_ recover.

I would've liked to hunt more but I was worried about the wolf. I was trying to tame it and it wouldn't be good to let him die or suffer.

Before heading out, I stuffed the corpse of the mantis inside my Item Box and picked the wolf up, carrying it to the city. I didn't feel like trying to explain him to the guards at the gate, so I climbed over the wall and hurried to my inn room.

I set the wolf on the bed and took care of it all night, falling asleep when it seemed like it wasn't in pain anymore.

Well, I'd be awake instantly if it decided to try to eat me when it woke up, so there's no need to worry about that.

 **[Day 16]**

 **[You have gained "Job: Monster Tamer".]**

 **[You have learned "Tame Animal" job talent.]**

That was the first thing I saw when I woke up. Honestly, it seems like it's way too easy to get jobs. I already had five of them and I wasn't even trying to get any.

Anyway, what woke me up was the [Black Wolf] licking my face. I had to push it off just to take a breath. Well, I didn't hate it. It turned into quite the kind little pup. I cleaned my face off and moved to the puppish wolf. He wasn't tamed with my job talent but he was tamed so I was curious whether or not [Tame Animal] would work.

What it did was it allowed me to rework parts of the brain to make it more docile and obedient. The changes made also enabled a 'familiar' to talk telepathically with it's owner.

I figured that, since I couldn't hear the wolf in my head, it wasn't tamed by the talent. Makes sense, right?

Anyway, I pet its back and place my other hand on it's head, activating the talent and taming the wolf with my ability. Honestly, there really isn't any change with its… sorry, her attitude. I could see all of her information as if I was looking at her with analysis. She seemed perfectly healthy, other than a bit dirty. I'll take her down to a river to wash her off after we hunt a bit.

Well, even if she was a bit dirty, her metal-like fur shined in the sunlight. I decided to name her Kurohana[5].

Since she was tamed, I took her down to the guild to see if I had to register her.

A few people were startled that a monster was in town but they quickly calmed down since she didn't attack anyone and followed me around.

When I took her into the guild, they explained the process of registering a familiar to me and it was quite the lengthy deal. I had to fill out several forms, pay a small fine and demonstrate our connection. Honestly, it was barely worth doing… I even had to buy a guild collar to show she was tamed. Well, at least she wouldn't be attacked.

Since she was now registered, I took her and headed out of the city, moving back into the forest. I knew there was river or something in the forest where I might be able to get some fish or find an animal drinking for the two of us to eat.

I did snack along the way, eating the [Poison Mantis] from yesterday. It tasted a lot like crickets with a bit of spice from its poison. I would've given some to Kurohana but it was poisonous and she nearly died last time she _bit_ it. We were able to round up a few creatures for her to eat, such as an [Armored Raccoon Dog], four [Night Vipers] sans the heads and a couple [Blood Crows] which attacked her while she was eating the vipers. I was satisfied with eating the mantis for the moment so I let her have them to herself.

Half way through the mantis, I gained a skill and we arrived at the stream I was hoping to find.

 **[You have learned "Silent Kill" ability.]**

The ability not only let me kill someone or something without noise but it also silenced any noise the thing I killed would have made, if only just for a couple seconds. It'd be useful in cities or during an assassination.

Well, I could bathe her here but the water was shallow and it'd take a while so I decided to walk upstream to see if I could find the source.

We did come across a **[Three-Horned Horse]** drinking from the stream but it didn't attack us and I was still eating the [Poison Mantis] so my appetite was sated for the moment. I took Kurohana and went around the horse, keeping my sensor abilities active in case the horse decided to change its mind and attack.

Unfortunately, it did. We walked for a few more minutes and I thought I could hear a roar of a waterfall when it re-entered my sensing area. It was still far enough for me to set up a thick web to trap it in. I would've poisoned the silk but I wanted to share it with Kurohana. Of course, I could tame it but I rather eat it for the abilities.

Once it got close enough, I released my web trap and wrapped the horse up. Not that it stopped. It tore through most of the threads it was wrapped it and the few remaining made little difference to it's speed and strength. It did slow it down enough for Kurohana to attack and for me to start wrapping it up with more and more silk. It wouldn't stop it, of course, but it'd restrain enough movement for me and Kurohana to kill it.

I didn't aim for the scales on it's back. My last sword chipped on a bug, this one was just as likely to chip, if not shatter on its scales. With every swing I used [Triple Slice] and [Heavy Blow], tearing up a good portion of its front right leg and putting a sizable scratch in part of its scaled back. It was with one of the slices generated by the ability so my weapon was undamaged.

Kurohana did the best she could, biting and clawing at the horse but she couldn't really harm it with how wildly it was thrashing about. Sure she got a scrape and bite in here and there but she couldn't do much without getting severely injured.

She did distracted it occasionally, which allowed me to activate several skills, a couple combat arts and swing my sword at the horse.

The attack ended up hitting the scales on it's back and, although the sword ended up being turned into scrap metal, it still sunk down to the middle of the horses chest.

I tried pulling the sword out but the blade snapped, showing just how useless it had become. I really needed better weaponry.

I ate the broken part I was holding and got a new sword out of my Item Box. I was starting to run low on them too, so I needed to find something suitable to replace them.

After putting the sword in its sheathe, I drew the dagger at my waist and started to skin the horse. I wasn't sure what use its hide and scales would be but, in a worst case scenario, they'd be a good light snack.

I tore one of the broken scales off and idly ate it as I finished skinning the horse. The broken ones were useless so I figured eating them wouldn't harm whatever I wanted to use the rest for later on. It was on the third scale I gained an ability.

 **[You have gained "Scale Armor Production" ability.]**

Oh? Seems interesting. I roll up my sleeves and activate the ability.

Honestly, I hated the results. Black scales started forming along my arms and stacking on top of each other until my arms looked like a heavily scaled lizards legs.

Don't get me wrong, the defensive properties were enormous… but it altered my appearance so much that I didn't look like me.

I turned the ability off and the scales slowly fell off… well, it'd be a waste just to leave them, so I picked them up and ate them, regaining what little stamina I lost.

Well, I could use them for some crude armor… speaking of crude armor, the crappy shield was done in by one of the horses front hooves. So, like the broken sword, I ate it. I didn't gain any abilities from it, nor did I expect to with how shit it was.

Well, I wasn't all that hungry at the moment, still having a good portion of [Poison Mantis] to finish up but I did cut a leg off and cook it for Kurohana before stuffing the rest of the body into my Item Box.

Hopefully I could actually bathe Kurohana in peace… I needed one too, but she came first.

After she ate, we walked towards the roaring waterfall. It was actually a nice little watering hole, definitely enough to sustain a good part of the forest. Other than that dead area, at least.

As we reached the edge, I gained another ability. Honestly, I didn't think I would get something like this, but it would certainly be useful. I had been making mental notes about which way I was headed and the area I was in, so I was a bit surprised I hadn't gotten this ability before.

 **[You have learned "Mental Mapping" ability.]**

The areas I had been in before were also added to the map so I didn't have to go back and explore them again… though, judging from the map I had missed quite a bit of the area I was exploring… Echolocation did fill in a bit but it hardly made a difference in such a massive forest.

I went ahead and removed my gear, leaving just my under-clothing and waded into the water. Kurohana followed after, apparently eager for a bath.

As I spilled the first handful of water over her back, several **[Green Lizardmen]** emerged from the water. It seems my sensor abilities weren't strong enough to sense underwater.

It's not like they posed much of a challenge anyway, even with their weapons.

I took the initiative and shot out some poisoned string, capturing two and tripping up a third. The other two were able to weave out of the way of the silk.. Hm. This was going to be harder than I thought.

I activated the scale ability I just gained from eating part of the horse. Sure I looked somewhat like a lizardman and I only had a light layer but it would, combined with [Shell Defense], provide more than enough defense to ward off their attacks.

I used [Intimidating Roar] and [Evil Eye] on the last two and, surprisingly, Kurohana used [Intimidating Roar] on them as well. It didn't stop them but it slowed them down enough for me to cover them in poisoned webbing.

I turned to deal with the last one but I had to step back, the biggest of the lizardmen swinging his sword at me. He didn't let up either, and I was slowed in the waist-high water. I had to raise my arm and wait for an opportunity to attack as his sword slowly chipped at the black scales covering my form. It was pissing me off. Kurohana couldn't do much in the water either, other than give the occasional roar. The lizardman seemed to shrug it off so it wasn't much help.

I added a secondary layer of the scales and started blocking his attack with one arm. While it wouldn't hurt him much, it'd definitely stun him… I used [Pyrokinesis] on him, causing him to stumble back.

I might not have tried it before in this world but this lizard was worth the effort. And I knew my body was more than strong enough for it. I took a deep breath and calmed myself, getting into a proper stance while waiting for the lizard to charge at me again.

I didn't have to wait long, the lizardman leaping forward and making an exaggerated swing. I quickly stepped in and to the side, swinging my elbow to hit the lizard on the temple. It hit and he was stunned so I took the opportunity to grab the back of his head and jump up, pulling his head down at the same time to drive my knee into his jaw, breaking it.

He recovered from the blow to his temple rather quickly and clawed at my with his free hand. I wasn't injured thanks to the scales I had covering my body but I had to push myself off of him so he didn't claw at my head. I had left it unprotected so it would draw the aim of his weapon, making it easier to block.

It was obvious his broken jaw was hurting him, his movements slowing considerably. On his next swing, I held my arm up to block it. He was slow enough on pulling it back I was able to grab it and tear it from his grasp.

Now that he was disarmed, I had a clear advantage. He clawed at me but it wasn't much trouble to dodge, even in the water. Well, now that he slowed by pain and anger it was easy.

He was still faster than me in the water but his moves were predictable and those that hit, though now few and far between, were blocked by the scales I had covering me.

I started to shoot out some webbing, little by little as not to draw much attention from the lizardman. It took a minute but it made him even slower and severely reduced his power. It was to the point I was faster than him in the water.

Ah, it was such fun. A shame it's over.

I finish wrapping him up with silk and gather the others, dragging them ashore. Since my [Jobs] made me stronger, as well as me eating, I decided to use the tied up as… for a lack of better word, sandbags.

Lets not get into the messy details. Lets just say I leveled my physical jobs a bit, gained some more combat arts and another job. And lets also say the [Green Lizardmen] had some good durability and endurance, so I was able to use them to my hearts content. I was starved by the end of my training so, after a quick wash, me and Kurohana enjoyed a lizardman and horse feast.

 **[You have learned "Divine Protection of the Demigod of Strength".]**

 **[You have learned "Aquatic" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Rapid Recovery" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Enhanced Leg Strength" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Lizardman Language" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Intimidating Roar Resistance" ability.]**

 **[You have gained "Job: Martial Artist"]** [6]

The big lizardman, the one I fought for the longest, tasted much better than any of the other meat I had today. While it's texture was that of a gecko, the meat was perfectly tender and tasted fantastic. After the first couple bites, I gained the four abilities he had and finishing the rest of him strengthened the skill to about his level… well, the rest of him minus a leg for Kurohana.

After him, the horse tasted best. It tasted like, well, horse, but of a high quality rather than the ones that are sold publicly. It tasted better than a race horse, too, to be honest. Though that might have to do with the wild nature of it. In a forest like this, you had to grow to be strong or you died. Though that seems to be true with this world too.

Though, honestly, it was far too easy to get a job. I think I know why people typically get one though. It's hard to level so many.

Don't get me wrong. Getting them up to twenty is a breeze but if you get a new job, the experience is shared between them. So, say the average [Horned Rabbit] gives a total of [10 EXP]. At [Job] level one with one job, that gives a fair amount. Not great but not terrible. Two jobs and they each get half that. I held a total of six jobs and, while use the combat arts themselves give experience, it pales in comparison to that of killing monsters. A single [Horned Rabbit] barely gave anything to any of my jobs anyway, since it was so weak compared to the monsters of this forest.

Of course, if you used skills or spell from one job and not the other, that job took a higher percentage of experience, if not all of it if you didn't use a single ability from the first job.

Well, that just meant I had to hunt a bit more to level the jobs. More hunting means more food, which means I get stronger which makes it easier to hunt and so on and so forth.

Anyway, I think that's enough for the day so, after cleaning Kurohana without being distracted by monsters, I took her back to the town and went to bed.

 **[Day 17]**

There wasn't much to do in town other than listen to rumors, such as a [Living God Species] had founded a new nation that floated around in the skies or a respected seerhad a prediction of a new species being born that was capable of taking down gods.

Well, I had planned on it when I was strong enough so it could have been about me.

The rumor that stood out the most, and was the most believable was that a group of goblins had been seen near highway to the city of Trient, the way Redhead and company went. I was a little worried, since they could be attacked so, instead of hunting, me and Kurohana started traveling down towards it.

Since I could keep up with her, we ran for an hour at a time. She had less stamina than I did so we had to stop and rest. Four hours and three stops later, I decided to stop for lunch. She had been doing well, so I was going to let her rest while I hunted for us.

Ah, if you're wondering about the [Poison Mantis] I had been eating when the horse attacked, It had been over twelve hours since I had killed it. I did finish it since it tasted pretty good but, like I expected, I didn't gain any skills.

Surprisingly, the area Kurohana and I seemed to be a popular spot for caravans and adventurers to stop for a rest… well, the area was a nice grasslands for miles on end. There were a few beast here and there but they were docile, other than a rare **[Human-Faced Bicorn]** that the **[Boarfolle]** , which were a mix of rhinoceros, buffalo, and a boar, rarely evolved into. They sacrificed a fair bit of power for a lot of speed. The [Boarfolle] were larger than rhinoceros' and, from what I was told, as strong as an elephant. However, they were about as fast as a komodo dragon[7]. Their weaker evolution, the bicorn, were a bit stronger than the average bull and as fast as a lion or cheetah[8]. They had a high endurance, so they could run at their top speed for several hours, unlike the [Black Wolves] hour.

I would've tamed a couple bicorns but a.), they were pretty rare and b.), they looked too much like humans.. Their faces did, I mean. People didn't exactly like them being tamed… well, I could just eat them when I found some.

The [Boarfolle] would be a difficult fight, as they liked to gather in herds. I could kill them, sure, but I'd likely lose another sword in the process. The spear I had was too short to use and would probably would break on their tough hide.

Well, I could always find something else for Kurohana. She followed me, of course. I didn't trust any of the caravans in the area since she was technically a monster. It was only frowned upon adventurers killing a monster tamers familiar and, while they were warned about it, nothing else was done.

There wasn't much out in the plains, sadly. A herd of [Boarfolle] here and there, a [Horned Rabbit] fleeing into its burrow. I could've caught it but it wasn't really worth the effort. While they tasted good, it'd take more than that just to feed Kurohana.

I continued searching around the plains, looking for something to eat. Eventually I had gone pretty far from the road and came across what looked like a garden.

It certainly wasn't a normal one either. The garden was nearly organized with rows of crops, most of them twitching. That was the first clue it wasn't normal. The second was… there was no house around. Even with [Echolocation], [Presence Sensor] and [Thermography], there was nothing close to a house anywhere near the garden.

As I was turning off the sensing abilities, the garden in front of me turned hostile, which was picked up by [Presence Sensor]. By the whole garden, I mean each and every plant there. Including the grass, which turned red. The surrounding grass didn't but the grass inside the garden did.

Well, not like they'd pose a challenge. Plants, as everyone knows, were weak to fire. I had an ability that let me summon fire on a whim. I'd say "do the math" but it'd be a waste of energy.

I activated the rank one water spell [Cleansing Rain] to wet the grass and ground around the garden. I didn't want to cause a wildfire and destroy a nice scene such as the grasslands.

I drew my sword and began hacking at the plants that started to get close and attack, leisurely activating a combat art here and there to bust open a **[Jack-o'-Lantern]** , cut apart **[Flesh-Devouring Grass]** and completely vaporize a group of **[Grinning Sunflowers]**.

When they started to swarm, I activated [Pyrokinesis] to kill enough to where me and Kurohana weren't trampled.

Unfortunately, most of the bodies, other than the ones killed by my rank one demise spell [Spear of the End] or [Pyrokinesis], stitched themselves back together and started to come after me. They even seemed to grow stronger as they stepped over the ashes of their "comrades".

It was an interesting ability, to come back the brink of death like that. I decided to eat them all.

It was also decent training for my combat arts and fair training for the [Jobs] they were associated with. I had to be careful with the water magic, however, since the plants could have absorbed it to grow stronger… possibly. I wasn't sure. Demise magic tore through them and destroyed most of the edible parts and those were the only two magics I had access to at the moment.

So yeah, I hacked, slashed, kicked, punched and everything else I could think of to kill the plants while keeping enough to eat… and then Kurohana discovered a way of killing them and leaving enough to eat… by eating them.

I had planned to after they were dead but they were surprisingly hard to kill. Eating them while they were alive, however, was much easier to do. So, I did what I do best. I ate. While hacking and slashing, I picked some up and ate them, restoring a bit of stamina and filling my stomach some. And reducing the amount that was attacking me, of course.

By the time I had eaten most of them, it was turning dark. Honestly, there were a lot of plant.. And the grass was the hardest to kill! They didn't move and they only had one way of attacking but it was impossible to pull out all the grass with the roots. So, after eating the grass twenty or so times, I turned it into ashes.

And, with how much I ate, I was surprised I didn't get many abilities. Just three, actually… or three beneficial abilities. And two from the [Jack-o'-Lanterns]. For those of you that _must_ know, they tasted exactly like pumpkins, sunflowers and grass. And warm pumpkin does not taste good. Cooked yes, warm raw no.

 **[You have learned "Flame Breath" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Completely Fire Resistance" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Take Root" ability.]**

Now, the first two are self explanatory. If you don't know by now, you're an idiot. [Take Root], however, was an ability that was somewhat complicated. With it, my body would produce roots that burrow into the ground and keep me in place. Additionally, I could use those roots to absorb some nutrients in the ground to heal myself and restore my mana. Of course, the usefulness of it varied from place to place. In a desert, it'd be next to useless while in a grasslands like here with only grass growing in most places, it'd be extremely useful.

Now for the detrimental abilities.

 **[You have learned "Extreme Light Dependence" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Darkness Vulnerability" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Extreme Water Dependence" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Extreme Fire Vulnerability" ability.]**

Again, if you don't know what they do, you're an idiot.

For some reason, one I couldn't understand, I had an urge to activate [Evolution], the ability I gained after eating the wriggling orc. I ignored it, instead taking a full Kurohana back to the main road to spend the rest of the night relaxing. I had expected to be much further along than I was, the plants taking a bit of time to finish off.

Ah, I should've bought a tent or something before I set off…

 **[Day 18]**

I slept horribly. It wasn't because of the night chill or because I slept on the ground. No, oh no. I was attacked by the merchants and their guards.

Well, not like it was their fault. Turns out there's a rare flower in their carriage that only blooms on a full moon… I think. I ended up killing everyone and eating them since they attacked me first. It was then I noticed I had an unmoving hostile presence in one of the carriages.

It was a strange looking flower, having a white pattern in the shape of a pentagram on it's dark blue petals. The center of the flower looked like the full moon and just standing this close, it felt like I was about to go on a rampage. I decided to call it **[Full-Moon Rampage Flower]**... Wow that's terrible.

I don't know why it didn't affect me or Kurohana though, but I wasn't about to complain. I uprooted the flower and ate it. Huh, it tasted like cabbage. I even gained a skill.

 **[You have learned "Berserker Pollen" ability.]**

From what I can tell, this ability increased the physical strength of those that inhale it but also causes loss of self-control. Well, except for me. I even created some and inhaled it but I didn't feel any stronger and I only felt a bit compelled to go on a rampage, same as the original.

Well, at least the guards boosted my [Job: Warrior] level to one hundred, even if I didn't gain any skills or combat arts.

I washed away the blood, took the supplies from the caravans and turned the carriages into ash with [Pyrokinesis]. Well, all but one.

I freed all of the horses, of course, them being normal animals.. Plus me and Kurohana were stuffed so they weren't worth killing.

I slept in the last carriage for the rest of the night and, in the morning, I set it on fire like the others and headed towards the city of [Trient] again.

My speed got a fair boost after eating those guards. Well, [Job: Warrior] does give a nice physical boost and it did go from less than fifty to max pretty quickly.

Kurohana was still capable of keeping up with me, so I imagine she leveled a few times in the last couple days. I wonder if she's going to [Evolve] soon…

We stopped around noon, eating from the supplies I had gotten from the guards. We had enough to last me and her a week… if neither of us evolved, that is.

Anyways, I still had the urge to use the [Evolution] ability and it was rather annoyingly getting stronger. I decided to ignore it like I did last night.

After eating lunch, me and Kurohana took off down the road. An hour later, our travel was blocked by highwaymen, all on [Three-Horned Horses]. Honestly, can't I have just one calm day?

Judging by their appearance, none of them looked strong enough to tame them.. Though, [Analyze] showed they had pretty good gear.

I started using [Berserker Pollen] on them. While it did give them more strength, it also made them out of control and more predictable.

On the first whiff, they attacked. What I didn't expect, however, were them to start attacking their mounts and the mounts attacking each other and the highwaymen.

A few of the men attacked me and Kurohana as well as one horse. I left the men to Kurohana, who roared and stunned them and I punched the horse in the face, it's head jerking ninety degrees to the right. And that was without any abilities.

I activated [Heavy Blow], [Pump Up] and the [Haymaker] combat art, bringing my fist down on the horses head. They had to have been weak horses with how easy they were to kill, my hands caving its head in and killing it.

I snapped one of the horns off and turned, throwing it at one of the highwaymen. I couldn't help but smirk as it went through his eye. Kurohana had taken care of two and I charged at the last, using [Heavy Blow] and punching him in the chest. He apparently still had enough brain in head to bring his arm up, trying to block my blow. My attack tore through his arm and hit his chest anyway, though it did reduce the impact.

It didn't kill him, clearly, but he was bleeding out and unable to breathe with the dent I put in his breastplate.

The fighting had quieted down but there were still a few horses around. I turned off the powder and killed the last two highwaymen. I didn't want to bother the horses as they had no choice but to fight for the thieves. Instead of attacking, they trotted off to lick their wounds.

I sighed and started gathering up the bodies around us, stripping them of their gear before cremating them. I wasn't hungry and the horses were more appetizing to me than the humans.

I took the head and one of the legs of the horse I killed and roasted them, giving Kurohana the leg and taking the head for myself.

I did get another ability, from the horse, too.

 **[You have learned "Strong Frame" ability.]**

Rather than improve my strength, it made my skin and muscles harder to pierce with non-magical attacks. To top it off, it worked with [Shell Defense].

… shit. I should have taken the hearts from the humans before I cremated them. Well, too late to take it back now.

For the rest of the day, me and Kurohana ran, stopping only to eat and for a quick breather. We didn't stop well into the night and, alas, I gained no other skills from the horses me and Kurohana ate.

 **[Day 19]**

It was raining today and it had woke me up early in the morning, before the sun had even risen.

I had been sleeping out in the open with Kurohana since the weather didn't seem like it'd turn bad. I went ahead and took a tent I got from the guards, quickly setting it up and slipping in with Kurohana to sleep a bit more.

I had to grab a towel to dry both me and her off before settling back in to sleep a bit more.

After waking back up, it was still raining pretty hard so we stayed in the tent and ate some of the leftovers and supplies from the day before.

Unfortunately, it was well into the night before the rain stopped so me and Kurohana stayed in the tent for the day.

 **[Day 20]**

The rain died down last night and, while it was rather muddy out, me and Kurohana were able to continue our journey.

It was the fourth day since I set off. Kurohana had progressed splendidly and she was definitely going to [Evolve], if not tonight.

Anyway, it had been ten days since I've seen Red and the rest of the caravan.. And I looked radically different that what they saw last time. I literally looked ten years older and had black tattoos covering my body… which I think had something to do with with my [Divine Protection]. I wasn't certain though.

Anyway, in my first three days of travel, I was utterly certain I had covered at least nine days worth of caravan travel. Mostly since they were a large group and had horses pulling the carriages.

I was going pretty quickly today, straining my muscles until I was sore and using [Rapid Recovery] to heal my damaged muscles so I could keep going. Unfortunately Kurohana couldn't do that, so I carried her until I saw another caravan. I couldn't tell if it was their caravan or not… but if it was, I was going to scare the shit out of them. I stopped a good distance from the group and set Kurohana down.

I told her telepathically what I was going to do, or at least sent an 'image' of it. It's hard to explain it since she can't really speak any language I can. We can still talk but it's more of a crude form of communication than anything.

Now, on to what I was going to do. I took a few steps away from the caravan before turning around and taking a running start towards it. I activated [Strong Frame], [Endurance], [Enhanced Leg Strength], [Pump Up] and the combat art [Hard Stomp]. Honestly, I think it was a bit much. I literally launched myself at least fifty meters[9] into the air. Well, I had [Strong Frame] and [Endurance] activate so, even if I was hurt, it wouldn't be severe.

As I neared the ground, I shifted my weight forward. I landed hard, sure, making a small crater on impact but a portion of it was converted into a roll, reducing the damage I had taken.

I rolled about ten feet forward before stopping and hopping to my feet. My sudden appearance from the sky was rather unexpected and shocked the group. I was quickly surrounded by guards, a few of whom I recognized.

Well, since they didn't recognize me, I might as well scare them a little more. I took a deep breath and used [Intimidating Roar], shocking the entire caravan. They could still breathe, fortunately, but they were all unable to move. Well, all but one. Redhead pushed her way through the frozen guards and saw me, her kukri knife drawn and her small buckler equipped.

Well, good to see she can take care of herself when something like this happens. She charged at me and slashed at my chest. Instead of letting it hit, I grabbed the blade and twisted it out of her grasp. I turned off [Sturdy Frame] and [Endurance] wanting to make it a fair fight. Hopefully she kept training like I told her, even if her job levels weren't quite the same as mine.

Alas, she seemed confused on what to do without her weapon and hesitated. It gave me the opportunity to grab her arm and spin her around. I pulled her close and tipped my head over, moving as if I was going to kiss her. She blushed deeply and squeezed her eyes shut. Instead of kissing her, I gave her the knife back and backed away.

I released stopped the effects of the roar, letting the group move. I reached up to rub the back of my head, "Man, I don't see you all in ten days and you all try to attack me?" They all looked at me in confusion, including the people in the carriages that had come out to see what was going on. It took Redhead and the older caravan leader a moment to recognize me but their reactions were rather funny when they did. Well, the old mans was, spitting out what looked like false teeth. Redhead just beat on my chest with puffed out cheeks. I thought it was adorable.

I took Redhead and dipped her, kissing her for real this time. It seemed to stun her, the feisty woman blushing up a storm. I couldn't help but laugh.

I lifted her up and carried her over to the caravan leader, offering him a handshake. He shook it firmly, though he was still flabbergasted. I set Redhead down once she was no longer stunned. Of course, once I did, I was bombarded with questions from the both of them, such as 'how did you age so quickly' or 'how did you get here' and even 'why does your race say "High Human" when I analyze you'.

It was all going to be hard to explain, mainly that last bit. I was either going to have to lie my ass off and hope they believed me or I was going to have to tell the truth and hope they believed me. I sigh and run my hand down my face. Maybe I should've waited before coming to see them.

Well, it was too late now so I might as well tell them. I swore them to secrecy, of course, before explaining, "I didn't age, I ran here over the course of four days and.. That last one is a bit harder to explain." I sighed again and pulled them off to the side, quickly explaining to them my ability, what happened to the orc and the [Evolution] ability. Needless to say they didn't believe me… that is, until I showed them the [Flame Breath], [Spider Thread Creation], [Triple Slice] and [Scale Armor Production]. They believed me after that. Of course, finding out that I had a blessing from a [Great God] was just as shocking to them.

Well, now that was settled, I explained to them why I had shown up all of the sudden, including the bit where I was mostly worried about Redhead. It made her blush all the more and I reached to rub her head. She was a sweet little thing.

The old man could just laugh and nod, thanking me for being worried. He had heard the rumor about the goblin but believe they would've been taken care of by now. I wasn't so sure so I decided to stay with them for for a bit. At least until they got to Trient.

Kurohana ran up, from in the grass and tackled me, knocking me over and licking my face. She had clearly been worried, having seen some humans before. Humans that had killed her pack. She even showed me what they looked like from her memories. Hm. I was going to have to hunt them down. With any luck, they'd still be in the forest me and her had left.

She ended up surprising Redhead and the old man as well. I had to calm them down and explain I had more jobs, one of them including [Monster Tamer]. I told them each of my jobs and their levels. It had only taken me eight days since they had last seen me to get my [Job: Warrior] to its maximum level. I didn't mention my consumption of people, thinking they'd be too scared of me after I told them.

Sadly, Redheads level was still twelve, the same as it was when she had left Evansdale. Well, we could work on that while I was around.

Since I had returned to the caravan, I decided to feed them so, giving Kurohana to Redhead, I ran out into the field to capture a herd of [Boarfolle]. I tackled one and knocked it over, taming it while it was dazed. The herd noticed and I gave the one I tamed instructions not to help. It moved to the side and laid down, waiting for me. The next two arrived at the same time and nearly impacted each other before they reached me. I grabbed one of the horns of the left one and used that as leverage to push myself up to get onto its back. Once that was done, I tamed it and gave it instructions to go sit with the other one before I had to jump off its back.

Unfortunately, one had decided to charge at full speed at that moment and it headbutted me, the horn lightly digging into my stomach. Well, it was no big deal. It hurt, as did the bone-jarring impact but it didn't pierce my skin. I punched it in the head, causing it to jerk to the side before I hopped onto its back and quickly tamed it. I stood on it's back and looked over the rest of the herd. There were four move [Boarfolle], meaning there were a total of seven.

I leapt of the one I just tamed and gave it instructions to join the small party I had already tamed. I landed on another [Boarfolles] back, this one bucking as soon as I landed. I had to wrap his waist up with silk and tie my feet to him so I wouldn't be knocked off. I punch him in the head to stun him and tamed him once he stopped thrashing about. That's four. Two more and I can kill the last one for food. I unraveled the silk and slipped off its back. I was nearly tackled again but I grabbed the horn and dug my feet into the ground, using my strength boosters and [Take Root] to make it easier to stop him. We traveled backwards for a good ten meters before we stopped. I quickly tamed it and sent it to the group.

The next one was too close for me to move, still having [Take Root] active. It was able to stab me with it's horn, piercing my skin. I was stuck in the ground and didn't go upward so it was no wonder it was able to. I was a bit… upset over this so I used [Intimidating Roar] and [Evil Eye] to freeze it while I turned [Take Root] off. I pulled myself off the horn and used [Rapid Recovery] to fix my stomach. It'd take a bit to get fully healed and I'd likely bleed out if I didn't have the [Vampirephilia] ability.

I activated [Haymaker] and [Pump Up], bringing my two fist down on the [Boarfolles] head until it looked like a clay model you might squish between your fingers.

The last [Boarfolle] had been stunned by the roar and had been forced to watch the grizzly display. It looked frightened, as did the ones I tamed. I walked over to the one I killed and I started eating it. It tasted a lot like cow, though not of high quality. It wasn't fatty enough for that. It was almost all muscle.

I was lucky enough for the others not to see how quickly I was devouring the beast.

By the time I was done eating it, including the bones, my stomach wound had long since healed and I gained a single skill.. It hadn't taken me very long to eat it so I was able to bring the remaining [Boarfolle] down to them before lunch time had ended.

 **[You have learned "Improved Charging Power" ability.]**

I killed one of my tamed one and skinned it before roasting it with [Pyrokinesis]. The two sisters chefs added spices and the like to make it taste better. I was mostly full but took one of the spiced legs for myself. It tasted a hell of a lot better than raw [Boarfolle].

The rest of the day was spent chatting with the caravaners and making Redhead blush as we continued down the route to the fortified city of Trient. All in all, its been a good day with some good food and blushing company.

 **[Day ? Part 2]**

It seems I left a part of my **[Absorption: Consumption]** out of what I said last time. This one involves items instead of creatures.

You've seen me gain skills from items, eating the backpack that gave [Interdimensional Storage] and eating those fire spirit stones gave me [Pyrokinesis] and [Fire Resistance].

Gaining a skill from an item involves a couple different things. The first is knowing what an item does. If, for example, I ate a pistol, since I know what it does, I'd gain [Improved Projectile Power] and [Improved Piercing Power]. Bullets would improve both of them, though slowly.

If I ate a… lets say laser pistol, I would not gain either of those abilities. I would, however, gain something along the lines of [Plasma Beam] or [Plasma Shot]. That is, if that is what they did. Otherwise, I'd gain nothing from them..

Unless I was attached to them. Which brings me to the second property of item consumption. If I had absolutely no idea what an item but I had been using it for some time and liked it, I'd be able to gain a skill by eating it. Like a warp core from a spaceship. I have no idea how they work but if I used one for long enough and I liked it, I'd be able to gain… something like [Faster Than Light Travel].

The last is the quality of the item. In the world I'm currently in, items with an [Inferior] quality are not likely to give me any abilities unless I had used it for a certain amount of time, like the second property of my item consumption. Items with a [Normal] quality will either give me a skill upon eating the first item completely or lightly boost the skill I already have that the item would have given.

I haven't eaten a [Rare] item yet so I'm not certain what would happen if I did.

 **[Insert Line Break]**

[1] A gathering of crows is called a murder.

[2] The exact same tattoos he has as an ogre

[3] The face he had before he was reborn. Basically an older version of his hobgoblin face. I would describe it but it's rather hard to do so when they don't show a full face.

[4] If you remember, I had him join the Adventurer's Guild. The country he's in has two identification systems, one used only by the country, the ID card, and one used by any country, the metal plates. He has a copper one since he just started.

[5] Roughly translates to 'black petal' or 'black flower'. Yes it's simple but it's the best I could come up with.

[6] I know you all don't want to see a page full of his combat arts he gained so I'm just going to add all those to the skill list.

[7] Can run at 13mp/h or 21km/h. Same speed, just different measurements. (THIS IS NOT CANON. They may be faster or they may be slower.)

[8] Can run at 50-75mp/h or 80.5-120.7km/h. Same speed, just different measurements. (THIS IS NOT CANON. They may be faster or they may be slower… they are probably slower but eh, magical beast speed)

[9] 1 meter = 3.281 feet. 50 meters = 164.042 feet. That's equal to a 15 story building, give or take a bit.

I hope you all didn't expect him to _/not/_ evolve. It's still Re:Monster, after all. If it wasn't I would've made it Re:Human. Now, some quick details because I know someone is going to ask… his strength sits around between his canon hobgoblin self and his ogre self right after evolving. While impressive for a human, the Rusty Knight that shows up later on is around as strong as an ogre even if he doesn't use any skills.

And, like most series with a human main character (or most series in general) he, as a human, could've become stronger than an ogre without evolving. Him evolving just makes it easier to gain strength… but harder to gain skills.

If you read the novel series instead of the manga, you can actually see there are very few moments where they actually talk, instead preferring to say they talked and explain what they said.

As for the one that said 'no harem' and then one that said 'harem', I haven't made my mind up over it. He might have one but there's an equal chance he won't.

About Kaiser Bey, his red spear… I don't think I'll give it to this Rou. He isn't really the spear type in this story. He likes the range, sure, but the blade on most of them are too small. So he rather have a sword.

If you prefer me to put the day by day progression of the jobs in the skill list let me know and I'll do that instead of just bumping them up.

As always, rate and review, give me your feedback and anything else.


	3. Day 21-30

I own nothing relating to any series, including Re:Monster.

 **Re:Monster Human Edition**

 **[Day 21]**

The night passed surprisingly quickly. Since I had tamed enough [Boarfolle] to last the trip and since they were sturdy creatures, they hooked them up to the carriages and let more guards ride the horses instead. I didn't have to do guard duty for the night either. However, I slept near the girls and half slept, keeping my senses open for any threats.

With the threat of goblins and what I remember from fantasy stories, they'd kill the men and capture the women. I didn't want that. Not with how fond I am of Redhead. Honestly, she's like a little puppy trying to make her owner happy. It's rather cute.

Once we were all awake and fed, eating a bit of leftover [Boarfolle], we headed out, making out towards Trient. The pace went a little faster than it had while I was still with the caravan the first time but that was my doing. Having tamed Boarfolle, which has a higher carrying capacity than a horse, pull the carts made for a steady heading and having more people on horses meant that we could travel faster. That meant we'd be in Trient in five days, rather than seven.

Not long after we started, there was an earthquake. It didn't bother me but the rest of the caravan was a bit shaken. And not just from the quake. When I questioned them, they had told me that… well, let me quote them directly, "There have been two recorded landshakes (their word for earthquakes) in the last five hundred years. The first was caused by a [Demigod] descending to murder and cause mayhem. Of course, it was the [Demigod of Mayhem and Murder]. The second was caused by a [Black Dragon Emperor of Destruction]. They ended up killing each other."

It was an interesting story. Just imagining the taste of a [God] and [Dragon] made me drool a little.

I thought about the earthquake. If there has only been two in the last five-hundred years, something major must've have happened. Unfortunately, there's no way to know which direction it originated unless I was able to be in two places at once.

The day passed pretty quickly. They sent me out to catch about [Boarfolle] for lunch and another for dinner. I didn't gain any other skills but I did boost [Improved Charging Power] a bit.

Kurohana evolved after a cat, or rather a wolf nap. She was now a larger version of herself and had a second tail.

 **[Day 22]**

Sleep was a fickle mistress last night, the strange urge to activate the [Evolution] being nearly overpowering. By the time everyone started to wake, I had activated it. Unexpectedly, I didn't undergo an evolution. My skills did.

 **[Job: Warrior] has evolved into [Job: Grand Warrior]. Level has reset.**

 **[Pump Up] has evolved into [Muscle Boost]**

 **[Heavy Blow] has evolved into [High Human's Peerless Blow]**

 **[Echolocation] has evolved into [Sense Area]**

 **[Intimidating Roar] has evolved into [Stunning Shout]**

 **[Presence Sensor] has evolved into [Presence Detection]** (1)

 **[Thermography] has evolved into [Non-Visible Spectrum Sight]**

 **[Pyrokinesis] has evolved into [Fire Generation] and [Fire Control]**

 **[Fire Resistance] has evolved into [Complete Fire Resistance]**

 **[Complete Fire Resistance] has merged with [Complete Fire Resistance]**

 **[Complete Fire Resistance] has evolved into [Fire Nullification]**

 **[Expanded Field of Vision] has evolved into [360 Degree Vision]**

 **[Extreme Water Dependence] has evolved into [Water Dependence]**

 **[Extreme Fire Vulnerability] has evolved into [Fire Vulnerability]**

In one quick surge, I gained a burst of power. The [Job: Grand Warrior] alone just about doubled my physical capabilities.

As it was still early and everyone was still waking up, I left the group and went into the plains surrounding us, getting far enough away as so I wouldn't bother them with my testing.

First I had to get used to my new strength, so I started working on my control, doing my best not to rip up any of the tall grass. Needless to say, quite a bit of was pulled out of the ground or snapped before I got the hang of it.

[Muscle Boost], similar to [Pump Up], increased my overall strength. But whereas [Pump Up] used blood in my body to give the increase in strength, [Muscle Boost] used stamina alone.

[Heavy Blow] did precisely what it said. [High Human's Peerless Blow] left a crater six feet deep and eighteen feet wide compared to [Heavy Blow]'s one deep, three wide.

[Echolocation] let me see everything, if a bit blurry, around me. [Sense Area] gave me details about the area in amazing detail. Enough to where it became hard to focus on just one thing surrounding me.

[Intimidating Roar] was more likely to make my enemies flee, rather than just stand stunned unless the creature was much weaker than I. [Stunning Shout] stunned thought that would've fled and makes the ones who would've been stunned by the roar pass out instead.

The least noticeable thing to evolve was [Presence Sensor]. Honestly, it seemed the same to begin with, but as I used it more, I was able to tell not only the exact location the presence I felt was but I was able to get a more vivid image of them, even if they weren't in my line of sight.

[Thermography] let me see heat signatures within my line of sight. [Non-Visible Spectrum Sight] allowed me to do the same but it also allowed me to see things I couldn't before. Namely, the rainbow fairies dancing along the sunlight. I couldn't grab them, unfortunately, so I couldn't eat them.

[Pyrokinesis] was a bit of a confusing upgrade, since it seemed that I just gained the same skill but split up into two. However, while [Pyrokinesis] let me produce a warm orange flame, [Fire Generation] let me produce multiple types of flames. Blue, white, red, green and so on. [Fire Control] let me… well, it let me control fire. But not just my own. When I lit some of the tall grass on fire, I was able to snuff it out using [Fire Control]. It was out of my control at that point and [Pyrokinesis] wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.

[Fire Resistance] evolved into [Complete Fire Resistance], which I already had. That evolved into [Fire Nullification], which meant that… well, it's self explanatory. It nulls fire damage I might take.

[Expanded Field of Vision] is pretty self explanatory again. It allows me to see more than just what my two eyes would be capable of. It evolved into [360 Degree Vision], which allows me to see everything around me, meaning it's nearly impossible to sneak up on me.

As for the last two, they're just weakened versions of what they evolved from, which is good for me in case I accidentally activate them, which I never plan to do.

After I was done testing my new skills, I jogged back to the caravan. Everyone was awake and the sisters were preparing to start breakfast. I decided to help them, much to Redheads chagrin. She was jealous. I could see why, too. Redhead was shorter and less… gifted where it matters. The sisters were plenty buxom and cute to boot.

Well, I'll ignore it for now.

After a tasty breakfast, we headed off down the road again.

[Presence Detector] was working overtime with how surrounded I was with people. I would have to learn how to drown out my allies and tell the difference between them and enemies.

We came across a **[Green Slime Lord]** near lunchtime. It was twice the size of a [Boarfolle], grey and, unlike the regular [Green Slime] I devoured, it had several cores, each one working with the main core - which was the size of my head - to attack and grab creatures for it to consume.

I'd say it was a kindred spirit, had it not killed two guards and a merchant. None of the girls were harmed, thankfully.

It was a hard fight. I couldn't reach into the creature without it starting to dissolve my arm and I wouldn't allow it near the girls, eating any part that started to get close to them. It was basically a fight of who could eat who first. So far, I was winning.

And then it played dirty.

It split itself into two, the main core went with one half and a handful of smaller cores went to the other.

Of course, that made it easier for me to pick off. I could snatch cores out of it with little risk of my arm being eaten. To make sure they didn't get the cores back, I ate them.

With fewer cores, it had a harder time controlling all the slime it had, making it's movements slow and almost robotic. Since it wasn't that big of an issue, I moved to the main core. It had too much slime surrounding it for me to reach through, so I did what I did best. I ate the slime. It was a rather nice drink, if I'm honest. A bit tangy like lemon juice and a bit of a kick like pineapple. It was as thick as pudding, though, so while it made a good drink, it wasn't all that practical.

Once half of the slime was gone, I pulled out the main core and ate it like the others. The cores are tasteless, so it wasn't much of a meal. The skills I gained were delicious though.

 **[You have learned "Metamorphosis" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Physical Damage Resistance" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Corrosion Touch" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Complete Corrosion Immunity" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Self Replication" ability.]**

Five skills was a lot but I did eat a lot of cores. Three of them were from the main core alone. Speaking of, I left the last two in the massive blob. Activating [Complete Corrosion Immunity], I walked into it to grab the cores, stuffing them into my mouth. They were still tasteless, but the slime helped wash the blandness out.

 **[You have learned "Liquid Restoration" ability.]**

… Six skills was a lot. They all seemed useful, with the exception of [Corrosion Touch]. It left me with less to eat. I sealed it off. It might come in handy in a tight bind but it was useless for me at the moment.

We stopped for the day to make a grave for the three that died. I took two shifts for watch.

I killed another goblin and ate it as my midnight snack. I didn't gain any skills but I didn't expect to, with how weak it was.

I also tested out [Self Replication] and [Liquid Restoration]. I made two tiny versions of myself using my blood. It made a surprisingly cute chibi versions of myself. What's more, I could see myself out of their eyes.

Hm. Might be good for scouting purposes. But, for now, it was nothing but a headache. I consumed the two clones and went to bed after my first shift was over.

Nothing happened during my second shift.

 **[Day 23]**

Not long after we headed out for the day, we were surrounded by nearly thirty [Goblins] and four **[Hobgoblins]**. The others didn't notice. Not their fault, either. The [Goblins] were pretty good at hiding.

I activated all of my sight abilities, watching for what they were stalling for.

I found what I was looking for and took a deep breath before activating [Stunning Shout]. Surprisingly, only the [Hobgoblins] weren't affected. A few [Goblins] passed out, as well as the merchants.

I rushed over to the **[Hobgoblin Mage]**. She was surprisingly cute, as well as her [Hobgoblin] companion. I ruined her chant, breaking the start of her spell. Two quick blows and they were knocked out. Always aim for the chin. Even brushing against it with a basic jab could render your target unable to stand. A good impact will knock them out. The second [Hobgoblin] was able to dodge my first punch and I just scraped her chin with my second but that was enough to shut her legs down for a minute, which let me get my third punch in, knocking the other female out.

The last two [Hobgoblins] put up a bit of a fight. The muscle-bound hob used a hodge-podge of poorly combined martial arts. He got one good blow in before I activated [High Human's Peerless Blow] and caved his face in. A bit harder and his head would've come off. Either way, he was dead.

The last [Hobgoblin] was going to be a challenge. It was the other subtype, a **[Hobgoblin Half-Demon]**. I couldn't figure out what its specialty was. It was able to cast a spell like the mage - an arrow of air impacting my shoulder - it moved like the second [Hobgoblin] - quick and agile - and hit like the third.

I couldn't help but grin. It was smart enough to change its tactics up, unlike the [Boarfolle] that injured me. It wasn't as strong, sure, but it could cast spells while keeping its distance and, if I got too close, it'd use a flurry of punches to distract me and back away again.

I started using [Metamorphosis] to stretch my limbs a couple inches when swinging at the last combatant. While I'd be too far to hit them without it, they got too cocky and took to blows to the chest.

I was having fun so, as soon as that trick stopped working, I stopped using it. Of course, I wasn't stupid enough not to mix up my skills. I used [Fire Breath] to burn up its air spells, [High Human's Peerless Blow] to put craters in the ground when I 'missed' and 'overextended' my punch and [Spider Thread Generation] to slow them down. Fifteen minutes into the fight, it tripped over a loose rock - I may have dug it up with my legs as I was chasing it - and fell into a webbed crater, getting caught in one of the six nets I set up in the craters.

Unfortunately, the battle wasn't done. While they were fully restrained, they had a magic they could cast. It wasn't an air magic to cut the thread - that wouldn't have given them freedom anyway, it'd just tangle them up in the loose threads - or a fire magic to burn the threads away. No, it used a magic that created a fiery portal on the ground.

Two humanoid creatures crawled out of the portal. They didn't seem too impressive compared to the [Hobgoblins], being a bit smaller in stature than the four but larger than the goblins. They were both demons, obviously, but I didn't think they were imps. If anything, they were **[Half-Demons]**.

The best part about them was that they were both female and they were both utterly naked.

They attacked hard and fast. They weren't quite as strong as the one that summoned them, but they were just as fast. My abilities relied more on strength than speed. Don't get me wrong, I'm plenty fast, just not as fast as I would hope to be compared to the amount of power I have. The two [Half-Demons] moved faster than I could. I was still able to get some blows in but for every one I threw, three hit in return. From each woman. It's really rather annoying.

I use [Metamorphosis] to grab the first womans neck, using [Muscle Boost] to clench my fist tight. I crushed her throat like a tomato. Red pulp and fluid came out quite readily.

I drop the body and lick my hand clean, glaring at the second female. I didn't use any ability to stun her but she seemed quite frightened. I used [Scale Armor Production] on my nails, growing out claws and armoring my hands. I used [Enhanced Leg Strength], [Muscle Boost] and [Improved Charging Power] to rush the woman. I swiped my hand at her, activating [Triple Slice]. Four of my claws tore through her chest, gouging her badly. Each claw hit her three times, so her chest looked like a wildcat had gotten ahold of her. She was able to reduce some of the damage by moving back but she still got hurt badly.

I swung my other arm, using [Scale Armor Production] to make my claws longer. I, of course, used [Triple Slice] again, turning her chest into a chessboard. She, due to blood loss, couldn't react in time and my claws tore down to bone. While she couldn't fight anymore, I didn't want to take that chance and, turning all my skills off, I grabbed her head and twisted, turning it towards her back.

I was getting tired by this point, so I moved over to the [Hobgoblin] and, using [Muscle Boost] and [High Human's Peerless Blow], I punched their face into pudding. Better to deal with them before they could summon more minions.

The humans, having experienced my shout more than once, recovered quickly and dealt with the remaining [Goblins]. I put the [Half-Demons] into my [Item Box] with both of the dead [Hobgoblins] before I moved to the two I knocked out.

I used [Self-Replication] and [Metamorphosis] to create blood ropes, tying the two female [Hobgoblins] up. I was lucky to get to them before they were attacked and killed. Attacking females put a sour taste in my mouth. Killing isn't any better. Even those summoned women, though they may not be real - I honestly don't know, but their bodies aren't disappearing so they must be real - they were still women.

I warned the guards not to touch the two bound captives. I would keep an eye on them. The blood ropes would make sure of it.

I took one of the corpses and drained some of its blood using [Vampirephilia]. A couple people stared as I bit into the corpse. I could've used [Metamorphosis] to make my finger into a straw but scaring some people worked better to let them know I was serious.

I was about to toss the goblins corpse to the side when the caravan leader stopped me.

He looked a little green as he spoke, either nauseated by what I did or by the fact that we're currently surrounded by at least a dozen corpses, "Rou. Can you help us gather the corpses? We're going to burn them so they don't become undead."

I nod, keeping a hold on the corpse I have in hand and carry it over to where the guards were stacking corpses. They cut down some tall grass and a few guards went to cut down a tree to use for fuel for the fire.

I snuck the two dead [Hobgoblins] into my [Item Box] for later consumption, as well as the two [Half-Demons]. They'd make a good snack for later on.

An hour later, we finished setting up the funeral pyre and I used [Fire Breathe] to light it. It went up in smoke quickly, the monster bodies burning to ash in less than an hour.

We set up a sign, warning about a chance of there being goblins in the area before heading off towards the city again.

We could see the city by the time we stopped for the night but, since it was night, the gates were closed.

We settled down for the night and killed the last spare [Boarfolle]. We had a bit of a feast, what with us taking care of a fairly large group of fully-grown [Goblins] and four [Hobgoblins]. I kept an eye on the two remaining ones, even feeding them a bit of the well-prepared [Boarfolle]. They didn't try to talk or escape, probably thinking they'd be set free if they co-operated. I shifted the blood ropes, giving them more freedom of movement but keeping them from doing anything more than hopping around. If they tried to escape, the ropes would restrain them before they got far.

I took mid-shift for watch, sleeping for a couple hours, waking up after the first shift tucked in for the night. It was the worst shift for anyone, with sleep being interrupted. I didn't particularly mind. I could eat the corpses I stowed away without bothering any one. It had been a few hours since dinner, so it wasn't much more than a snack at this time. If I was truly hungry, I could've eaten two of the bodies.

I started with the weakest [Hobgoblin], saving the [Hobgoblin Half-Demon] and the two [Half-Demons] for the next day.

 **[You have learned "Demon Tribe Factor" ability.]**

 **[Day 24]**

The two [Hobgoblins] decided to try and escape after I settled back in for the night. As expected, the blood robes tied them up tighter, causing them to trip and land in the tall grass. I woke up a couple hours later, at dawn, and found them as I went to to piss.

I spoke to them in their own language, "Idiots. Could've figured out you couldn't have escaped."

The two sat there, flabbergasted for a few minutes before the [Hobgoblin Mage] talked, "You can speak our language?"

I raised a brow, challenging her, "Of course I can. I'm talking to you now, aren't I?"

The other [Hobgoblin] laughed and nudged the mage, "He's got you there Hobusei."

The mage glared back, "Shut up Hobusato."

I crouch down in front of both of them, "Hobusei and Hobusato? Can I just call you Sei and Sato?"

They glance at each other, having a quick conversation without really speaking. They spoke at the same time. Sei shook her head and Sato nodded.

"No."

"Yes."

Sei glared at Sato while Sato laughed back. Sei gave a sigh of defeat before nodding, "Yes."

I grunted, "Thank the Gods. Having to say your race every time would've gotten annoying." I extend a hand to help them up. I must have misjudged my strength because I pulled them both into my chest.

I laughed as I saw the two look flustered. It was nice to know I was still handsome, even in another world.

I still had to piss, though, so I sat them back and shuffled off to do just that. No point in letting women watch something that crude.

After I finished and carried the two [Hobgoblins] back to camp, Redhead ambushed me. Her face was nearly as red as her hair.

I set the two I was carrying down and let Redhead drag me away.

Apparently she was jealous and decided to stake her claim on me before anyone else could. _It_ was the best way one could stake a claim. I'll spare you the major details and just say that Redhead isn't a virgin anymore. Nor was my new body, I suppose.

Sadly, it was only a short skirmish between the two of us, having to get back before breakfast was done or we'd - well, not me, Redhead - would have to go without food until we stopped for lunch. We'd be in the village before then, so it wasn't much of a threat today.

I skipped breakfast so I could talk with the two women I captured. It also allowed me to munch on a [Half-Demon] since they didn't care. They had eaten human in the past and [Half Demons] weren't much different. They two of them shared a leg and I ate the rest of the two corpses.

Their flesh was sugary, almost like candy. It was an odd taste. Not bad, just odd.

Halfway through the second corpse, I gained a skill.

 **[You have learned "Succubi's Charm" ability.]**

It seemed like a skill used to charm the opposite gender but, with it being _Succubi_ , it may have been a skill to charm males. I'll have to use it in town, see what it does.

We were stopped at the gates for the standard reasons. Why are you here, what are you selling, let us see your permits. The same bunch of bullshit as everywhere else.

The guards stopped at the carriage I was guarding and hesitated when they saw the [Hobgoblins]. They weren't going to allow us entry, so I tried out [Succubi's Charm].

… I rather not go into detail of what happened. Lets just say we were cleared to go in, with the condition that the two women and I don't cause any more harm. I also had to shed a little more blood to make collars for the two women, to make it seem like they were slaves.

The town itself wasn't very large, no more than a half mile across, but it seemed to be busy. With how fortified it was, a lot of people seemed to live in peace. Of course, I could still see plenty of enemies, likely thieves, with [Presence Detector]. Once the caravan was unloaded and the merchants went to set up shop, I took the two [Hobgoblins] for a little walk down back alleys. It wasn't lunch time but I was feeling peckish.

Once we were far enough away from the market and people, three thieves slipped out of the shadows behind us and five stepped into the alley in front of us.

Using [Analyze], I was able to determine they were all trash. None of them had leveled their jobs past ten and they had no skills besides [Pickpocket].

I'm almost certain the boss of the group, a short, fat and balding man, started talking but I had them completely cocooned before one full word got out of his mouth.

I pulled my sword out of my [Item Box], deciding to test how strong my skills had gotten with the evolution/rank-up of my warrior job.

I moved to the first cocooned victim and activated the combat art [Swift Slash], intending to put a shallow slash in their legs. By no means did I expect to cut their legs off. It seems that my physical capabilities weren't the only thing that got a boost with the evolutions. [Swift Slash] shouldn't have enough power behind it to remove limbs.

I really didn't feel like bothering with the others, letting the two women with me finish them off before incinerating their corpses with a strong blue flame. In a minute, only ashes remain. I washed that away with the rank one water spell, [Cleansing Shower]. As long as they had no proof, we couldn't get in trouble.

We left the area in a hurry. Someone would notice the smell of burning flesh sooner or later.

We lazily explored the rest of the city, finding nothing of any real interest. We headed back to the trade market, looking around for the group we came in with. The two [Hobgoblins] got a lot of dirty looks but it didn't seem to bother them much. Nevertheless, I snarled at the rude people. They got the idea and quickly turned away.

After meeting up with the group - the market was packed and it took us thirty minutes to get across it with the crowd - I got the information of where they were sleeping before slipping out of the city. I decided to hunt and snack on the [Hobgoblin Half-Demon] in my bag.

Once I was far enough from the city, I ate the anomaly I had stored in my bag. I didn't even bother to cut it up, I just took bite after bite until it was gone. I did gain a skill out of it, too. Just one.

 **[You have learned "Lesser Summoning: Demonkin" ability.]**

I immediately tested out the new ability. I felt my mana - it was similar to energy but was affected by my strength of spirit instead of my strength of body. - dip slightly before the fiery portal appeared, with one minor difference. It was made of black flames, rather than the standard orange. It took less time for me to cast than it did the original owner of the skill. Not by much, though.

Two women, [Half-Demons] like last time, stepped out of the portal, then followed a [Hobgoblin Half-Demon] and an [Imp]. The [Half-Demons] looked almost the same as the last two I saw, having an attractive appearance. Rather than the red skin, though, they had black skin, like coal. They weren't naked, either, having a thin white veil covering their… assets.

The [Hobgoblin Half-Demon] looked like the one I ate, but with black skin and wore only pants. The [Imp] had black skin like the others and looked remotely human. It looked vaguely like a harpy, but with a squashed, ape-like face, no feathers, bat wings and a scorpion tail the length of the body.

I stepped on the [Imp] like it was a bug. It didn't try to move or defend itself. Hm. It'd be good to use as bait.

I dismissed the other three summons and ate what remained of the [Imp].

I explored the plains around the city, killing a few small creatures here and there and devouring their corpses, sans the parts that looked important. Sure I wasn't hungry but it wasn't like I was going to gain weight.

I retired for the night after eating a [Bicorn] and seven **[Blade Rabbits]**.

 **[Day 25]**

It was a bright, sunny day without a cloud in sight. And I was in my inn room with Redhead.

She snuck in the night before and woke me up while everyone else was asleep. We didn't really get a good chance to have any fun the day before and it was her first time, so it wasn't entirely pleasurable. We made up for that last night.

But now I was stuck in bed, laying under her. Sato and Sei stopped by, laughed and went to join the caravan. The 'slave collars' allowed them to be there without anyone saying anything otherwise. It gave them a chance to learn the language spoken by humans, as well as how much the coins were worth and how to barter.

Two hours and another quick session with Redhead later, I was up and free to move about.

I decided to hunt again, moving towards the western gate.

There wasn't much out here, other than a few **[Speedy Hyenas]**. They moved quickly and bit at my limbs, trying to disable me. They weren't very strong, their teeth and claws barely digging into my skin. They had a 'boss' of the pack but it only seemed to be a bigger version of the hyenas. One quick [Stunning Shout] and a swing of my sword and off came its head. It hesitated before I killed it though and the rest of the hyenas retreated after that.

It didn't seem like they were running from me.

I tried to turn but moved too slowly and got a shoulder full of fangs.

I grabbed the beasts head and kept it from tearing itself away. I didn't want to lose an entire arm and part of my shoulder. I'd bleed out before I had a chance to fight.

I grunted as claws raked my back. Though not quite enough to pierce my skin, it still hurt. Imagine a pole of iron being pressed hard into your back and running down it three different times. Now imagine the pole has been sharpened a bit and digging. That's what the claws felt like.

Angry, I activated [Stunning Shout] to try to make the beast attacking me hesitate. It didn't, not even slightly.

I activated [Strong Frame] to enhance my durability and added in [Scale Armor Production] to add armor. If it was strong enough to pierce my skin with fangs and fast enough to surprise me with my detection abilities, it was incredibly strong.

It made me drool.

I activated [Muscle Boost] to slowly pry the jaws on my shoulder open. It took a bit of effort but I was able to get my shoulder free without any additional damage.

Keeping my hold on the jaw, I flipped the creature over my shoulder and slammed it into the ground.

I finally got a good look at it. It was a lion. A **[Gold Lion]**. And it was the size of a pick-up truck.

I swung my sword down while it was still on the ground, activating [Heavy Slash]. I fully expected to hack one of its legs off. Instead, it got a little knick and my sword shattered like glass.

I hesitated.

It cost me an arm.

The lion moved faster than I expected, twisting back onto its paws and leaping forward, tearing my arm out of the socket and then off completely.

I quickly cauterized my wound, angry at myself for hesitating and angry at the lion for taking my arm.

I activated [Rapid Recovery] to heal up the burnt flesh and teeth marks. I also activated the rest of my defensive abilities, not taking a chance with the powerful creature.

I tossed the shattered weapon away and had to fight with my fist. I activated [Muscle Boost] again and used the Brawler Combat Art [Power Punch] to add extra heft to my hit. Needless to say, I missed. I did get the lion to leap back, however.

It let out a terrifying roar, likely one of his skills, but it didn't bother me.

It stalked around me, giving me enough time to summon seven [Imps]. While small and weak, the could fly and provided a distraction.

I leapt forward as the [Imps] took to the air, flying around and using their scorpion tails to try and pierce the lions hard hide. They couldn't but a distraction was needed.

I used [Muscle Boost] again and, while it was distracted, I swung and hit the lion in the ribs. I heard a cracking, but there was no snap. It was definitely a tough one. It would make a good meal.

I activated [Spider Thread Generation], trying to use it to slow the lion down. While I did get some threads on it, it tore through them like half-melted butter and swatted down two [Imps].

I activated [Power Punch], [Jab] and [High Human's Peerless Blow] on top of [Muscle Boost]. Jab did lower the power of the attack but it increased the speed, something I needed desperately on something that fast.

It was taking another swipe at the last [Imp] when I hit it in the same spot - or at least damn near it - as earlier. I heard and felt quite a bit of satisfying cracking and snapping. I could see a fist-sized cave in on its side but there wasn't any obvious damage otherwise. That hurt my pride a little. I was able to cave in, nearly knock off a [Hobgoblin] head with just the Peerless Blow.

I backed off when the lion roared, starting to summon more [Imps] while it was licking its wounds.

I blinked.

FUCK!

It was healing itself with its tongue.

I rushed forward, grabbing the coarse tongue. I used [Take Root] on one foot, taking a firm stance, and I placed my other foot on the lions head. It clawed at my legs, trying to get me to let go of its tongue. It couldn't get through my skin and it couldn't get through the armor surrounding. With its claws, at least.

I gave a firm pull, trying to tear the tongue from its mouth. It was stuck firm, so I reactivated [Muscle Boost] and yanked. After a three second fight, the tongue gave, ripping out of the lions mouth. I just hoped that kept it from healing.

I ate the tongue, trying to recover a little energy so I could fight longer.

The lion leapt at me, trying to sink its fangs into my leg, ignoring its bleeding mouth. I used [Haymaker], weakened with only one arm, with Peerless Blow, still using [Muscle Boost]. There was a satisfying crunch as I broke its maw. It was still alive, but its best method of injuring me was broken.

I slammed my fist on its maw again, using only [Muscle Boost], snapping the jaw in a second location.

I was still angry. My arm had been torn off and I had every right to be. I started wrapping the lion up in my thread. It tried to retreat but I wasn't going to allow that. It tore through most of the threads but some were sticking. I kept applying layer after layer of thread until it wasn't moving much faster than an average running human, slow enough for me to pound on it.

I used every physical skill I could, using them for what they were worth. Eventually, the lion just fell over, giving up since it had no chance of winning. And people thought lions were prideful creatures.

I ended the creatures misery with an [Spear of the End] to the brain.

The battle hadn't lasted more than ten minutes but the pummeling took nearly an hour.

I grabbed the corpse with my now lone arm and hefted it onto my shoulder. I was exhausted but damn all to hell if I wasn't going to claim the corpse. I stopped to kick my arm into the air and caught it in my mouth. If I was lucky, I could get it reattached. If not, I'd eat it. After the lion, of course.

It took half an hour to walk back to the city gates, stopping only to grab the corpse of the **[Speedy Hyena Leader]**. I kicked the corpse into the air and moved so it'd land on top of the lion.

I had to scare off scavengers a couple times but they got the message after a couple [Stunning Shouts] and me breaking their ribs with my legs.

The guards at the gate weren't going to let me in - they tried to take the lion, likely so they could try to take the credit for killing it. Corrupt bastards - but [Evil Eyes], [Stunning Shout] and a kick to the family jewels each and they didn't bother me again.

People stopped to stare at me as I walked into the city. Or rather, they stared at the [Gold Lion] and [Speedy Hyena] on my shoulder and my own arm in my mouth.

I headed straight for the [Adventurer's Guild] building, just barely squeezing in with the lion on my shoulder. I had to drop the hyena and kick it in.

Needless to say, everyone in that section of the hall stopped to stare. I casually walked up to the counter and deposited the two corpses on the counter before spitting my arm out of my mouth, "Got anyone who can put my arm back on?"

The woman behind the counter fainted.

I rung the bell on the counter and a older, salt-and-pepper haired man came forward. He saw the corpses and started sweating. He didn't faint though.

He moved to me, "Please wait a minute, sir. I must talk to the manager." He then hurried out of the room, dragging the woman with him.

Ten minutes went by and there was nothing. I imagine the man threw up before going to get the manager. It was a bit of a bloody mess, my severed arm included.

Another five minutes and a four and a half foot tall female showed up. Analyze couldn't determine her information. Either its level was too low or she had a way of blocking it.

She had long, scarlet red hair that went down to her hips, matching red eyes and an expression that betrayed her age. She was easily eighty years old, if not older. Sadly, she spoke in a monotone, "Welcome Adventurer." She looked across the hall, "No party? Beast killed them?"

I shook my head, "No party at all." I slapped the dead lions side, "I killed it by myself, after it tore my arm off."

She looked disbelieving, like there was no way I could have done it, "You silver rank?"

I pulled out my copper adventurer's plate, along with the adventurer's card. She took them, along with a drop of my blood.

She looked up to me after a minute, a small amount of confusion of her face, though her voice remained monotone, "How you kill? Beast heals itself."

I opened the beast mouth, "I tore out its tongue to keep from doing that, then I broke its jaw, twice." I wiggled the broken jaw to prove my point.

The manager sighed, "Accepted. Rank improved to silver. You sell the beast?" She set the copper coin to the side and pulled a silver coin out from one of the many drawers. She tapped it against the card then returned both to me.

I shook my head, "No, I'm keeping it. I want its hide for armor and fur for some clothes."

The manager looked sad, "Sells well. You certain?" At my nod, she continued, "Go nextdoor. Skinner and tailor work. Show plate, get deal."

I nod, "Thanks." I grab my arm and hold it up, "Any chance there's a way to reattach my arm?"

She shook her head, "No. Royal City too far. Only fix there. Arm rot before arrive."

So there was a way to reattach it but I couldn't get there in time. That was annoying. I dropped my arm into my [Item Box], as well as the hyena. I hefted the lion back onto my shoulder and carried it nextdoor, moving into the skinners.

The manager met me there. She smiled, "Welcome Adventurer." She pouted when I didn't react.

I set the lion down on the counter.

She looked it over, marking several things down on a clipboard. Once she examined how tough the hide was, she looked to me, "Two gold and leg for payment."

I frowned and activated [Barter], "One gold and a paw."

She scowled… and yet, her voice _still_ remained monotone, "Two gold, half leg. Process hide free."

I analyzed the lion. It seemed like a fair deal. I extended my hand and added in something as she took my hand and shook it, "I get to watch you work, to make sure you don't take more than we agreed."

She nodded, "Deal."

So I watched her work into the night. Once the lion was skinned, I cooked it and ate it, giving the skinner some as well.

It had the texture of a wild cat, but the taste was better than the lizardman I had eaten before. The one with the demigods blessing.

Speaking of demigods blessing, it seems this cat had the same demigod, as well as a god on top of it.

 **[You have learned "Divine Protection of the God of Gold" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Sonic Resistance" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "All Elemental Resistance" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Nigh-Impenetrable Hide" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Tyranny of the Beast Lord" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Intimidation of the Strong" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Sense Obscuration" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Healing Saliva" ability.]**

It was definitely a strong creature. It was the first time I had gotten so many abilities at once.

The divine protection… I'm still not certain what those do, other than a boost in strength. The sonic resistance made me resistant - no duh - to sonic abilities. Basically, it let me ignore the weaker sonic attacks while I'd take heavily reduced damage from stronger ones. A useless skill for me. See above for [All Elemental Resistance]. [Nigh-Impenetrable Hide] made my skin as hard the lions, if not harder due to my original divine protection. [Tyranny of the Beast Lord]... that was an interesting skill. I could pressure other beast into delaying their reaction. I wasn't sure how it'd work against what was stronger than me but that's something to find out another time. [Intimidation of the Strong] powered up my killing intent and intimidation skills.

[Sense Obscuration]... This is what gave him the chance to bite and nearly tear off my shoulder. Had the attack been successful, I would've died. It made him undetectable by my sensing abilities and I started to rely on them more than my sight. It was a good lesson to learn.

I actually got [Healing Saliva] when I ate the tongue but it would've been a bad time to mention it. With it, I can lick my wounds and heal them. Unfortunately, I couldn't use it on my missing arm. It wasn't strong enough for that.

Ah, that's right. The urge to activate [Evolution] is bothering me again… but it's been a long day. I'll do it tomorrow after breakfast.

 **[Day 26]**

I got an earful from Redhead last night. And the rest of the caravan, but mostly Redhead.

Apparently, coming back with a ton of tanned gold hide and gold fur wasn't normal. Oh, and neither was suddenly missing an arm.

I apparently killed a well-know **[Silver Lion(Variant)]**. It was well known because it only killed what it wanted for food and left the rest of group, if there was one, alone, even if attacked. It sounded like it was smart enough to take the bare minimum.

I spent most of the day finishing my recovery and exploring the city. I got the hide made into a pair of pants with a drawstring. I'd find a use for the fur later on.

After the two [Hobgoblins] beat on me, I shared a bit of leftover meat with them and Redhead.

That night wasn't any different than before. Redhead seemed to have an insatiable libido, though I did my damnedest to make sure I satisfied her without the use of [Libido].

When she turned in for the night, passed out really, I activated [Evolution]. I had meant to earlier but got distracted by the caravan yelling at me.

 **[Job: Wizard] has evolved into [Job: Magician]. Level has reset.**

 **[Combat Art: Swift Slash] has evolved into [Combat Art: Instant Slash].**

 **[Combat Art: Heavy Slash] has evolved into [Combat Art: Bone Shattering Slash].**

 **[Spider Thread Generation] has evolved into [Golden Thread Generation].**

 **[Job: Brawler] has evolved into [Job: Martial Artist]. Level has reset. Skills put in [Combat Style: Brawl]**

 **[Job: Martial Artist] has merged with [Job: Martial Artist].**

 **[Job: Martial Artist] has evolved into [Job: Monk]. You have learned [Class Art: Internal Ki Control] ability.**

 **[Strong Frame] has evolved into [Perfect Frame]. [Perfect Frame] turned into passive skill.**

 **[Physical Damage Resistance] has evolved into [Complete Physical Damage Resistance].**

From what I understand, the evolution from wizard to magician allows me to learn more than combat spells. Wizards focus more destructive spells where Magicians don't focus on all spells. It also doubled my mana regeneration rate.

[Instant Slash] allows me to do what it says, though I'm still restricted to a form of bladed weapon that isn't my own body. [Bone Shattering Slash] is a little strange. If it doesn't cut through skin, it act like a blunt attack. If it does and the weapon connects with bone, it tries to break that bone. Without damaging the flesh around it.

[Golden Thread Generation] let me produce a strong metal thread that happened to be gold colored. It was flame resistant and I could control whether or not it was a sticky silk.

Losing [Job: Brawler] didn't make me any weaker, since it merged with [Job: Martial Artist]. [Job: Martial Artist] turning into [Job: Monk]... I'm not entirely certain it's a good thing. I didn't get a boost in strength and I certainly didn't get any more flexible. [Internal Ki Control] was a good thing, though. I could send my ki - a type of energy different than stamina and mana - to different parts of my body, which acted like [Muscle Boost], albeit weaker.

[Perfect Frame]. That one was an odd one. Where [Strong Frame] made me sturdier, [Perfect Frame] did just that _and_ slimmed me down to where I would never have trouble reaching any part of my body, including my back and toes. The fact it was passive made it useful since it didn't sap stamina.

My appearance changed, however. I didn't evolve. [Perfect Frame] changed my frame. Gone were the bulky muscles and overly wide shoulders. My height stayed the same. My face slimmed a bit, better matching my slimmer appearance. Nothing else changed. I was as strong as I was before.

 **[Day 27]**

I took the two [Hobgoblins] and Redhead out hunting today. We stayed away from the western plains, where the stronger monsters apparently made their home.

We went through the gate we originally entered from, the eastern one, and I sent the girls off to hunt monsters alone. I kept an eye on them as I got used to fighting with one arm.

The two [Hobgoblins] fought together, Sato drew attention from the creatures while Sei cast spells from behind. I should have her teach me those fire spells later.

Redhead stuck to [Horn] and [Blade Rabbits]. The [Blade Rabbits] gave her a bit of trouble but she learned and adapted fast. Her fighting style was similar to Sato's, though she was a bit more graceful and blocked more thans she dodged.

The rabbits were a bit too weak for me, even with the one arm, so I hunted [Triple Horned Horses]. They were rather aggressive and I was nearly gouged three times before I caught one by the horns and threw it against one of the others.

I used [Stunning Shout] on the third horse and punched the fourth on its long face, jerking its head to the side and making it impale the third horse. It didn't pierce very far and it recovered quickly.

I grabbed the fourth horse and threw it at the first two, knocking all three down. I jumped on the fourth horses back and wrapped my arm around its throat. The other horses wouldn't attack for fear of injuring part of their team.

I held the horses neck until it was passed out and hopped of its back before it fell over. Two of the remaining horses charged and the third one trotted in place, ready to gouged me if I ran.

I grabbed the left horse and pushed it into the right one. The right one stumbled to the side, missing me entirely. I twisted the left horses head, snapping its neck.

Before the last horse could attack, I used [Improved Charging Power] and charged it. I hooked my arm under its stomach and lifted it off its hooves. It was a hell of a lot lighter than the lion, that's for sure. I threw it, making it land on it side. I quickly covered it in golden thread and turned around.

Just in time for the last horse to try to impale me on its horns. I say try because it got less than an inch into my skin.

I activated [Internal Ki Control] and brought my fist down on its head. [Muscle Boost] was overkill but bare fist weren't strong enough to smash its head in. Ki control offered enough for a boost to kill but without smashing the head too badly.

I twisted the horses head, snapping it like the second and went to tame the other two. I could sell them, if they were worth enough. If not, I'd use them as personal mounts… probably should've kept the other two alive for the girls.

Once the horses were tamed, I gained a new skill.

 **[You have learned "Tame Beast" ability.]**

Hm. The new skill let me tame what wasn't 'natural'. Natural by my last planets creatures. Hybrid creatures, dragons, that sort of thing. Might be useful later on.

I put the two corpses into my [Item Box] and looked around to find the girls.

I found them staring at me, "What?"

They all blushed and went back to hunting.

When we turned in for the night, Redheads job was fifty and the two [Hobgoblins] went up five levels each. Sato was lower level the Sei, apparently having evolved a year apart.

 **[Day 28]**

It was raining heavily today, so we stayed inside and ate the leftover horses. Well, me and the two [Hobgoblins] did. Everyone else was a bit squeamish about eating them.

I got Sei to teach me the rank one fire spells [Flare], [Burn] and [Cook]. She would've taught me the battle spells… but I set fire to her hair and she kicked me in the family jewels.

 **[Day 29]**

It was cloudy today but it didn't seem like going to rain. I took the girls out hunting again, to the western side this time.

I didn't want to go but they reassured me that variants were rare and [Silver Lions] themselves were fairly rare.

The variant part was relieving but I wanted to eat some [Silver Lions], see how they compared to the variant.

We explored the plains but the ground was still drying out so we didn't find much. On my thirtieth - total, not of the day - [Blade Rabbit] sword… horn, I gained a skill.

 **[You have learned "Bone Blade Production" ability.]**

It was an ability that did what it said. Only, the bone had to already be exposed to actually produce a blade. Useless.

We went back to the city, tired from walking through the muck all day with little to show for it.

 **[Day 30]**

The clouds had fled before the sun had rose, leaving the day with a nice feeling of mid-spring.

I honestly didn't have a clue what season it was, so it might've been spring.

After a quick breakfast in the walls and some bartering down at the market - I bought a skinning knife with the enchantment [Difficult to Damage]. It was apparently pretty rare. Analyze let me know a fair price price and [Barter] let get it for slightly above value. I also sold both [Triple Horned Horses] - I took the girls out hunting again.

We went to the western plains again, exploring further than the day before. I noticed some creatures about the size of [Boarfolle] but marked as hostile on the edge of my [Presence Detection]. [Boarfolle] were never hostile unless provoked.

We headed in that direction, mostly because I was curious about what they were. Plus each of the girls could take care of the [Blade Rabbits] and there weren't any [Three Horned Horses] around.

The ground wasn't as marshy, though there were still patches of thick mud around, so it took a little longer than it should've for us to reach our destination.

We stopped when I noticed one of the hostile targets move towards us. It was moving quickly, too.

The girls got behind me when I told them to move. Seconds later, a fucking tiger leapt out at us. It was a dull silver color, other than the metallic black stripes, so I decided to call it a **[Mercury Tiger]**.

It leapt at me and I immediately reacted by using [Muscle Boost] and [Take Root]. All eight-hundred or so pounds of tiger crashed into me.

I didn't give an inch.

I grabbed the tiger by the scruff of its neck as it crashed into me, keeping it from biting me. Its claws still got me but the [Gold Lion] couldn't hurt me with his, so the tiger didn't do shit.

I yelled in the tigers face, activating [Tyranny of the Beast Lord] and [Intimidation of the Strong]. I didn't activate any other skills. I just yelled.

The tiger calmed down, its ears flattening in a defeated manner and its tail tucked between its legs. It backed away and laid down, turning its head away from me. I patted it and then tamed it.

It perked up and I pushed it towards the girls. They were more than happy to pet it and it was happy to get pet. A shame tigers couldn't purr.

We continued our trek to the gathering of hostile creatures. I could tell the tiger was apprehensive about fighting its family but I wasn't going to force it to, as long as it kept the girls safe.

We stopped within sight of the group of hostiles. It was a group of five [Mercury Tigers], two [Silver Lions] and two handfuls of **[Albino Pumas]**.

I had no doubt they could tell we were there but none of them were moving to intercept us.

It took me a minute to figure out why. Over half of them were pregnant. Three tigers, both lions and half of the pumas, all pregnant.

That was a shame. The others were all protecting the pregnant cats and bringing back food for them.

Sighing, I sent the tiger back to its clutter and released it from my control. It looked grateful.

The girls and I left, off to hunt something else.

We headed up to the northern plains and I kept an eye on the gathering of cats. I didn't know if they would let us go or not but it seemed like they would.

As we neared the northern plains, I saw a large big, about the half the size of the [Gold Lion], that looked remarkably like a diatryma, a large flightless bird that went extinct fifty million years before I was born in my last world.

It stood at a little over three meters tall and had an axe-like beak. I named it **[Axe Beak]**. The name sounds stupid, but I wasn't going to call it a diatryma.

It turned to us and charged. Does everything attack for no reason?

I lifted my hand and caught it by the beak.

It was charging incredibly fast, however, and the beak was sharper than I thought. It cut into my hand. Not very deep, but enough to draw blood.

It seemed like everything around here was ready to attack anything.

I took a firm grip on the beak and held it, "Oi, you three, attack it."

The overgrown bird tried to escape but I didn't even need to use any strength enhancers to hold it in place. It attacked me with its claws but I lowered its head every time it tried, making it nearly scratch itself.

It squawked in a pretty decent imitation of my voice, "Attack! Attack! Three! Attack!"

When the girls started attacking it, it attacked them with its claws. Redheads shield was nearly torn apart and Sato got scratched pretty badly. I'd have to heal it after the bird was dead.

I flipped the bird onto its side, holding it there so the girls could attack it without risking any more damage.

Once the bird was injured badly enough, I broke its beak, put my foot on its head and pressed down.

You ever see jello go through a tennis racket? The birds brain was the jello and its skull was the racket.

I borrowed Redheads kukri knife and used it to remove the head. I'll pluck the bird later and get some oil to make some karaage.

I picked the head up and ate it. I didn't gain any skills but it tasted like high-quality, if uncooked chicken, so I didn't mind.

* * *

(1) This is not the same ability. Sensor is knowing something is there and the general location while Detection is knowing the exact spot it's in.

… I may have forgotten about his wolf. Then again, he doesn't really say much about them in the canon stories. Think of it as an extra guard around camp, like he pretty much has in the actual story.

Yes, I tore his arm out of his socket so I could give him the Silver Artificial Arm - Airgeatlámh. Only, for the full arm.

The lion is actually modeled after the Nemean Lion from Greek Mythology, albeit weaker. It's why his sword nicked him and why his claws didn't get through his skin. In terms of strength, it's a step up from the [Red Bear] he fought, as well as a variant. It's two steps up from a [White Bobcat]. I was originally going to add in other monsters, but he would've died with them in the fight. They come up later, the [Silver Lions], [Albino Pumas] and [Mercury Tigers]. The evolution stages go from [White Bobcat] to [Albino Puma] and then to either [Mercury Tiger] (the less rare of the two) or [Silver Lion].

You might think he got a lot of skills from the lion but he got eleven from the bear.


	4. Day 31-40

I own nothing relating to any series, including Re:Monster.

 **Re:Monster Human Edition**

 **[Day 31]**

Today was pretty boring. I hunted out with the girls, Redheads warrior level finally hit one-hundred and I killed a guy in fancy gear.

Honestly, he was asking for it. He didn't bother looking at the false slave collars - mind you, he might've and saw they weren't actually an item - and attacked the two [Hobgoblins]. Sei had two broken ribs and Sato had a broken arm by the item I reached them and pushed my hand through his chest.

We were out hunting and I was still getting used to my new one-arm physique. [Mental Mapping] and [Presence Detector] have gotten a lot stronger lately, so I was able to see a detailed map of my surroundings and place all three girls on it. I noticed a grey circle, indicating a neutral party, approaching the [Hobgoblins]. Once the grey circle got within two-hundred feet of the girls, it turned red, indicating an enemy, and charged them. When I saw that, I ran over. They were injured when I got there but it was treatable.

Unfortunately, I only had the one healing ability. And Sei had to take the clothing on her chest off for me to heal her. While I wasn't bothered, Sei, Sato and Redhead were blushing like mad. Redhead was pinching me. Well, I suppose it makes sense. She was jealous, since I had to used [Healing Saliva] on Sei. I could've licked my hand first, but that would've weakened the healing properties of it. Sato was easy to heal. I just had to lick her arm over the spot where it was broken. No embarrassment there.

Eh, I'll make it up to Redhead later.

I took the sword the warrior had and shoved him into my [Item Box] for later consumption. The sword was rather nice, being a Unique rank item that seemed to hold the properties [Hard to Break] and [Hinder Regeneration]. I wonder why he used his fist. Well, I needed a new weapon since I broke my last sword on the lion. It'd make a good replacement for now.

Ah, I gained a new combat art for my Thief job too.

 **[You have learned "Sneak Attack" combat art.]**

I went through his bag for anything useful. I found an old map of a forest with an 'X' mark. It was a treasure map. Crudely drawn but a treasure map nonetheless. It'd be worth checking out once the caravan left for the capital city. Sei piped up and mentioned the map looked like it was of her home forest. I'd take two [Hobgoblins] home while we were there if it actually was their forest. If the [Goblins] were a problem, I'd take care of them while Sei and Sato were distracted.

The four of us went back to training but using the demons I could summon instead of the creatures out in the plains. I was able to summon a new one, a **[Mephit]**. Or rather, I was able to summon three new ones. A **[Water Mephit]** , a **[Fire Mephit]** and a **[Demise Mephit]**. They looked the same as the [Imps] - with the exception that they were made out of their element - and were the same size but they lacked the long scorpion tails and their wings were closer to the size of a bats. They were about as strong as the naked [Half-Demons] I could summon and they used their natural abilities to their fullest. They were fast and agile and their attacks carried their elemental attributes. Water would cut into skin, Fire would burn and Demise would… do whatever demise did.

Demise was a hassle to deal with, so I killed it and ate it.

I had Sei, after she was full recovered, fight the [Water Mephit] so she could learn how to counter it with her fire magic. Sato fought the [Half-Demons] - I could summon them with sheer clothing that prevented them from being naked - and Redhead fought the [Imps]. I'd have to find out how other people [Rank-Up] their jobs since I was absolutely certain it wasn't the same way I could.

I fought a mix of all the demons I could summon, removing limbs left and right, bisecting the smaller ones and removing the occasional head. It wasn't much of a challenge so I kept summoning them until there were nearly thirty surrounding me. I had exhausted my mana supply by then and, while it'd come back quickly, thirty should be plenty for training.

I had them attack me first, weaving my way to and fro between their attacks and between them until I was completely surrounded and couldn't anymore. Once the first attack landed on me, I started to attack, punching, hacking and slashing my way out of the center. I got hit a few times, but it was on the side where I didn't have an arm, so I couldn't counter attack without compromising my footwork. The missing arm was a bigger handicap than I thought.

Eight minutes after I started, I considered myself dead. Not one, not twice but seven times. Each hit I took and couldn't block, I considered a death-dealt attack. I would've had no hits taken if I both arms. One, at most. I'd have to heavily compensate for my missing arm. I could do it but it'd be a hassle.

Well, my mana has returned, so I summoned more demons for the girls and myself. We fought as a group this time, with myself and Redhead on the front lines, Sato in the middle protecting Sei and mowing down enemies that got past me and Redhead and Sei in the back, blasting enemies with her magic.

Once they were all dead and we were rested, I set up another formation that had Sato, Redhead and myself in a circle around Sei with demons coming from every direction. Sei had the weakest constitution and lowest physical attack power but she was magically powerful. Unfortunately, her mana regen rate was low and her rank two spells cost too much mana to use repeatedly, so she had to stay with rank one spells until she was either out of mana or killed. I told the demons to try to capture, unharmed if possible, so there was no threat of her dying.

Three minutes into the battle, we Sei was out of mana and Redhead, Sato and I had to finish off the few remaining demons. We'd work on her mana capacity later, if we're able to at all.

Two minutes later, all the demons were dead and the girls were exhausted. Well, I suppose fighting sixty demons in an hour would do that to a normal person.

I walked the girls back to the city and then I went back out to train some more since there was still plenty of light left.

Nothing of interest happened, other than my eating 'Crusader'. I got his job but his level was abysmal.

 **[You have learned "Job: Crusader" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Intuition" ability.]**

He didn't taste all that great. More like week-old hamburger than a person.

I was able to buy a small pouch of Spirit Stones in the market. There weren't any fire ones, not that I needed them, but there were plenty of earth ones.

 **[You have learned "Geokinesis" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Earth Resistance" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Aerokinesis" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Wind Resistance" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Hydrokinesis" ability.]**

I didn't get a water resistance skill because there were only three water stones in the bag and I only got the control after eating all three. There was a lightning stone too but only one, so I didn't gain any abilities this time. Spirit Stones were pretty rare, so it was a lucky find to get these, so I wasn't about to complain.

 **[Day 32]**

Today, I decided to train group tactics with the girls. God… Gods knew they needed it. Redhead had no skills with group work, Sato tended to rush into things and Sei… well, she was fine but had to adjust to Redheads and my fighting style.

Honestly? Things went pretty well. Sato only got a cut on her eyebrow before she learned to listen and not rush into things. She might have to experience it a few more times before she really learns not to rush into things.

Once we were done training, we hunted. [Axe Beaks] tasted good but they were extraordinarily rare and I wasn't going to go hunt the big cats after what I saw. Even I wouldn't kill a pregnant female, if I was absolutely sure they were pregnant. Big cats were no exception. [Sword Rabbits] were too weak to get any real benefit from, even if they tasted good. [Boarfolle] provided a bit of a challenge but they were a distance away, no doubt staying a good distance from the [Silver Lions] and the like. My demons were good for a fight but they were more for training tactics than eating. Redhead didn't like seeing me eat humanoids. It meant no eating them while she was around.

We wondered closer to the edge of the plains, hoping to find something interesting to hunt. We stopped when we noticed holes in the ground. I used my [Sense Area] skill to take a look in the holes. From what I can tell, there were snakes. Odd how my [Presence Detector] couldn't sense them. It may have just meant it wasn't strong enough to see underground just yet.

Well, lucky I got [Geokinesis] yesterday. I couldn't yet gouge out the area they've burrowed into but I could pull rocks up big enough to wake them and scare them out of their hidey-hole. Or pull them out, if necessary.

Not that I needed to. When I started pulling rocks up from their hole, they all woke up and started swarming out, one at a time. A nice way to hunt them, if I do say so myself. There were more hole nearby but I plugged them up with some large rocks, so they had to come out this one hole. When the first one slithered out of the hole, I noticed they weren't… really snakes. Well, that's not quite right. They were snakes but they had a turtle shell in the middle of their body and had heads like a snapping turtle. I called them **[Turtle Snakes]**. I tamed the first one, since it was actually rather cute before I had Redhead and Sato kill a few before killing some for myself. Once we had six snakes each, excluding the tamed one, I had Sei cast her rank two fire magic **[Firestorm of Disaster]** \- also known as **[Char'dei Dirou]** \- into the hole burning up any remaining snakes - there were quite a few, at least twenty left - and destroying the tunnel system. I hadn't expected quite that much damage, so I used [Geokinesis] to dig the bodies up. The shells were beyond salvaging but the meat was still edible.

Sei was wiped out from that spell but no doubt she got the most experience out of that fight.

For the snakes we killed, I tried to turn them into kabayaki but I didn't have any proper sauce, so we just had grilled snake.

I summoned one of my tamed [Boarfolle] and decided on eating it with the snake. It took a couple minutes to arrive and a few more to cook but it tasted good with the snake. It must've been the strongest of the herd I got it from because I learned two skills from it and one from the snakes.

 **[You have learned "Juggernaut" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Desensitization" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Shell Retreat" ability.]**

Juggernaut improved my charging power tenfold but made it harder for me to stop my charge. Desensitization dulled my nerves so I felt less. Could come in handy in dangerous situations where pain would slow my reaction speed. Shell Retreat makes it possible for me to his in my shell… if I had one.

We went back to the city, thoroughly stuffed from the large meal we ate. I was more stuffed from the skills, rather than the meal. Apparently my body wasn't satisfied, even when I ate something the size of a rhino. Well, nothing I'm not used to. There were times I could've eaten a whale, if they weren't extinct, in my last world and still had been starving.

It was the caravans last day in the city and I was a bit worried about Redhead leaving. While we didn't really know each other, we've bonded over the last few days, among other things. I wouldn't keep her if she wanted to leave but I would miss her. If she does go, I hope she takes my training to heart. You can't solely rely on combat arts.

As I fell asleep, I got another notification.

 **You have exceeded the minimum required level.**

 **Special requirements [Blessing of the Great God of Origin and Demise], [Merciful Kings Killer], [Demon Leader], [Living Anomaly] cleared, [Evolve] to [Noble Human: New Species] now possible.**

 **Will you [Evolve]?**

 **Yes/No**

I pressed Yes, wanting to get back to sleep quickly..

 **[Day 33]**

I evolved last night. My overall appearance changed very little. My face changed a bit, looking like a softer version of my original face from before I died. My hair grew to my mid-back and I now have a black jewel-like orb, roughly three inches across, in the center of my chest.

Redhead, surprised, punched me in the face when she woke up. I had to use [Healing Saliva] on her hand, since she hurt it pretty badly. Fortunately, she decided to make it up to me quite kindly. It was a bit early for that, sure, but it was still fun.

After we finished, I used [Hydrokinesis] to pull water from the air and [Fire Generation] and [Fire Control] to heat it up. From there, I used the warm water to clean the two of us. It was better than using a towel dipped in a bucket of water like people around here usually did.

We got an early start to the day because Redhead was leaving with the caravan. She was under contract and would face heavy financial penalties for leaving before the contract was completed.

I shed a small blood clone, using [Self-Replication] and attached it to her without her knowing. While using one with sight gave me a headache, I could 'disconnect' it and have it act on its own since it had a little bit of free-will. If Redhead was in trouble, it could 'reconnect' with me and show me what was happening. The pseudo-collars on the [Hobgoblin] girls worked the same way.

I saw Redhead and the caravan off, gifting them the last [Boarfolle] I tamed. Redhead was a bit sad, understandably so, but I told her I'd find her when she was done with her job. Until then, she could do what she had to.

Once the caravan was out of sight, I decided to train. I had strengthened again and needed to adjust how I did things, such as hold my weapon so I wouldn't break it with my newfound power. Even with the [Hard to Break] attribute, if I were to grip too tightly, the handle would dent in the shape of my hand.

Sei and Sato went out hunting on their own, just outside the range of my sensory range. Which is fine, since I had my clones on them. The abilities I gained with my evolution needed to be trained and I needed them out of range so they weren't injured by accident. Abilities which I had thought had reached their highest evolution evolved when I did, including [Complete Corrosion Immunity].

 **[Muscle Boost] has evolved into [Limit Removal]**

 **[Endurance] has evolved into [Noble Humans Endurance]**

 **[Corrosion Touch] has evolved into [Death Touch]**

 **[Complete Corrosion Immunity] has evolved into [Corrosion Absorption]**

 **[Demon Tribes Factor] has evolved into [Lineage of the Noble Demon]**

 **[Tyranny of the Beast Lord] has evolved into [Tyranny of the Noble Lord]**

 **[Intimidation of the Strong] has evolved into [Intimidation of the Peerless Noble]**

[Limit Removal] is definitely the scariest of the abilities I gained, including [Death Touch]. Were I not to use it in combination with [Rapid Recovery], my bones would break and my muscles would tear, leaving me vulnerable to even the weakest creature while I would be in writhing in intense pain.

[Noble Humans Endurance] gave me more endurance than [Endurance] did, boosting my stamina to new heights.

[Death Touch]... A scary ability, for sure. Anything weaker than myself, physically and mentally, would be killed instantly while anything stronger than myself would be weakened considerably, and still have a chance of dying. The amount of energy it took depended on how strong the creature was. If it was as strong as I was, it sapped about half of my stamina, excluding [Noble Humans Endurance]. If it was weaker than it, it took considerably less. It was an active ability, so there was no worry about killing Redhead, Sato or Sei with it unless they touched me while I had it on.

[Corrosion Absorption] allowed me to absorb any corrosive attacks and convert it into mana or allow it to heal me.

[Lineage of the Noble Demon] was similar to [Demon Tribes Factor], in which it would make it easier for me to evolve down the path of a demon. However, it would also lower my chances of evolving into anything other than something of the demon family, even if I fulfilled the conditions to do so.

[Tyranny of the Noble Lord] changed drastically. Instead of pressuring enemies into delaying their reaction, it allowed me to easily conquer an enemy and, if I did, it lowered the chance of a revolt happening later on. Why it changed so much, I don't know.

[Intimidation of the Peerless Noble] didn't change much. It still strengthened my killing intent and intimidation skills but I could now use it _as_ an intimidation skill on top of the boost.

I gained one more skill upon my evolution, but it didn't evolve from a previous skill I had. Rather, it came with my evolution.

 **[You have learned "Lesser Summoning: Humanoid" ability.]**

It was a pretty self-explanatory ability but, with it, I could summon [Dwarves], **[Elves]** and **[Gnomes]**. They had a limited intelligence and mostly relied on order I gave them, like the demons I could summon.

Fortunately, they all had clothes, though most of them were black.

Each humanoid I could summon had part of their anatomy colored black, typically their eyes or hair, if not both.

The [Elves] were exceptionally beautiful, made more so by their glossy black hair and take-no-shit appearances. Each elf was summoned in accompany with a sword, bow and a quiver full of arrows. They had compact muscles that made them somewhat chewy and they tasted surprisingly more like fruits than meat.

The [Dwarves] were hearty little men with thick, bushy beards - or no beards, in some cases - and beady black eyes. They had a warhammer and shield at the ready and wore a crafters belt that was filled with either smithing or mining tools. They tasted the same as before, when I learned the dwarven language.

The [Gnomes] weren't worth their weight in mana, not if I could summon [Imps]. They stood a two and a half feet and wore what you'd expect a lawn gnome would wear. They were summoned with no weapons and had absolutely no combat skills to speak of. Oddly enough though, they tasted like mushrooms.

Hm… [Gnome] and [Boarfolle] stew. Toss in some vegetables and it'd be a tasty stew. Better if I had any [Gold Lion] left.

It was dusk by the time I was done training, only having stopped to eat lunch with Sato and Sei. [Sword Rabbits], while not the best I've had, are seriously delicious.

Sato and I had a quick spar before we headed back to the city. I won, of course, but I was able to hold back enough not to seriously harm her. I licked the wounds I caused on her arms, healing them. It was faster than I could recover with [Rapid Recovery], not that I had to use it too often.

 **[Day 34]**

Me and the two [Hobgoblins] headed off today, towards their home. They had been gone for nearly six weeks and the next generation of [Goblins] should've been born about three weeks ago. Well, we'd head to their home after checking out this map… if it was in the same region, that is.

The day was mostly spent walking. It'd take three days by foot to reach the forest at the end of the plains and, since I didn't feel like taking that long, I searched around for some [Triple Horned Horses]. Sato and Sei could share one if necessary but if I could find three, I'd tame them all.

Unfortunately, there were none around, so we spent the day walking, stopping to eat some [Imps] and [Elves].

 **[Day 35]**

We walked from early in the day, a bit before dawn, until a little while before noon. It was a bit early for lunch but that's not why we stopped.

We came across a herd of [Triple Horned Horses]. Or rather, they came across us.

It was a stampede of horses, [Boarfolle] and [Bicorns]. All in all, there were sixty to seventy animals charging towards us.

Just because it was a stampede didn't mean there was something nearby strong enough to overpower them. One of the animals could've been spooked by an adventurer or a bigger animal and panicked, which then scared another animal in its herd, which then caused a chain reaction of scared animals which led to this multi-species stampede.

That being said, it was no less dangerous than any other type of stampede.

I hurriedly used [Geokinesis] to pull the earth up, making a mound of dirt for Sato and Sei to hide in. It was tall enough that the animals had to go around it and the interior was mostly hollowed with plenty of holes to provide air and allow the pair look out.

I had no intention to fight all of them, just three.

I summoned two elves with bows and a dwarf with a tower shield, mainly to keep the mound from being attacked.

Once I was certain the dirt mound wasn't about to be knocked over, I leapt onto the nearest animal back I could get to, which happened to be a [Boarfolle]. While slow compared to the other two animals, it could plow through trees like they were saplings.. It'd say soft butter but trees did give _some_ resistance.

I didn't intend to tame it but lunch was soon and it tasted pretty good. I had it keep charging, the tamed beast first instinct being to slow down and stop. Once a [Triple Horned Horse] got close enough, I wrapped [Gold Thread] around its middle and pulled myself over using it. While I could be reckless, even I didn't want to get trampled. I wasn't sure I'd survive, even with my skills. [Boarfolle] weigh as much as a rhino and there were eight of them. And there were at least thirty [Triple Horned Horses] and [Bicorns]. The horses were the size of a shire horse[1] and likely weighed the same and the [Bicorn] and, well, they were literally bulls with human heads.

I successfully pulled myself onto the horses back and quickly put my hand to its head, activating [Tame Animal] to tame it like I did the Boarfolle.

I wasn't finished yet, so I had it slow down until it was alongside another horse. I tamed it and went to grab the last horse.

The last horse was fierce, turning its head to bite at me. If I were on it's back, it'd try to buck me off and stomp on me once I was done.

I couldn't help but grin. This horse was going to be lunch.

I reached over again, taking a firm grip of its head and pulling it over. It stumbled from the sudden veering but my current mount was smart enough to slow down so I didn't lose my grip. I squeezed a bit and activated my taming skill again.

Strangely enough, it fought back, denying the taming. Since I couldn't tame it, I activated [High Human's Peerless Blow] and squeezed, breaking the armor covering its head and crushing its skull. In all honesty, I probably didn't need to activate that skill, as it seemed like-...

 **[You have learned "Overkill" ability.]**

That. Like Overkill.

It was an odd ability. If I killed an enemy while using it, it doubled the amount of the damage dealt to them. If it didn't kill the enemy, extra damage was still added but no more than one point one times more. It took a fair amount of stamina, as well. Less than [Limit Removal], though that skill tore through enemies like it did me. There were even movements that [Rapid Recovery] couldn't keep up with, so I was injured some.

Still, [Overkill] was an ability I would activate only when I was in a pinch or if I wanted to make sure something died.

I picked the corpse up, adding in some [Gold Thread] to make it easier to handle, and threw it into my [Item Box].

I urged the horse I was riding to move faster. Since we had slowed considerably, most everything of the stampede passed us. One of the younger horses, a pony really, was right in front of me but raising it would've been troublesome and, with the rumors I heard around towns, it wouldn't survive long outside its natural habitat until it was fully grown and had evolved. While it might survive in the plains and forest, if I could beat it, it wouldn't last long in this world. The [Gold Lion] would've killed it in a heartbeat, quite literally.

Manipulating some [Gold Thread] I excreted from my fingers, I wrapped it around the next horse and used it to pull myself towards it… only, I forgot to dismount and ended up tangling the horses together. Going at the speed we were going, it was a very bad thing.

One horse slowed while the other kept its pace, causing the first to stumble and fall, which pulled the other down.

As the horses fell, I jumped off. A second too late. One of the horns pierced my foot and, as the horse fell, the horn tore my skin, mangling the bottom of my foot badly. Enough to where I had to cut the shoe apart to get it off.

It took some effort, with use of one arm and one foot, but I managed to stand and hop back to the horses. The untamed one was panicking while the tamed one was laying there calming. Neither looked injured, surprisingly.

I tamed the second horse and untangled them before dealing with my foot. With my abilities, it wouldn't take more than a few minutes to heal.

I pulled my sword out from my [Item Box], using it to cut the mangled skin off of my foot. It hurt, but with [Desensitization], it wasn't a big problem. Next I used [Hydrokinesis] to pull water from the air and ground, forming it into a pseudo-cast around my foot before activating my [Liquid Restoration] ability. It wasn't so much a healing ability rather than a blood restoration ability. Continuing to use [Hydrokinesis], I kept myself from bleeding and then used my [Healing Saliva] ability.

While wiping my saliva-covered palm against my wound, a thought occurred. Couldn't I have used [Hydrokinesis] to control the water in my saliva to apply it directly to my wound instead of lowering the healing ability by applying it to my palm? Well, it was already too late to try it.

Once my foot was healed, I mounted my horse and urged it towards the mound of dirt the [Hobgoblin] girls were in.

Once I arrived, I noticed the dwarfs shield was cast to the side, dented to the point of beyond repair. The dwarf himself was trampled and was laying under the corpse of a [Boarfolle]. The mound looked untouched, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

Picking up, the [Boarfolle] and [Dwarf], I threw them into the [Item Box]. I might have a bit too much food stored up. I'll have to throw some of it out for the insects and fungi to feed on. Some of it was actually rotting in my [Item Box]. While I could eat it myself, rotting food tasted terrible and gave me no abilities.

Actually, I wasn't so sure about that. Zombies and other undead might give me skills. I hoped not, however. I didn't want to eat rotting flesh at all during my second life. Not like I had in my first one. The taste wasn't worth the [Rapid Aging] skill I gained.

The elves were nowhere to be seen, though there was an excessive amount of blood in the grass. The [Boarfolle] wasn't injured enough to cause the blood to pool that far or that much, nor was the dwarf, though he did have a gaping hole in his stomach.

Just to make sure the elves didn't run, I used [Dismiss Summon], mentally selecting the two missing summons. The pools of blood disappeared, so I was sure that the ability worked. Still, I was curious about what happened to them. With as much blood was on the ground, they obviously died. Well, I wasn't about to waste time trying to find out what happened.

I used [Geokinesis] to tear down the mound, making sure the two [Hobgoblins] inside weren't hit by any dirt or rocks.

The two stood there, inside the collapsed mound, stunned. When I tried talking to them, Sato collapsed onto her knees and Sei fell onto her.

Sei spoke up first, still laying on Sato, "To kill and tame Triple Horned Horses and Boarfolle so easily. We stood no chance against you, did we?"

I shook my head, "No. If I really had to, I would've taken your heads off instead of capturing you. But you two were the only females and I was curious as to why that was." I rubbed my head, "I think I've made the right choice so far."

Sei rolled off of Sato and stood before helping her up. They dusted themselves off and Sato helped dust Sei off here and there, getting a couple parts she missed. And getting a couple parts that didn't get dusty at all.

I would make saddles after dinner, when I skin the [Boarfolle] and [Dwarf]. Human hide was a surprisingly durable leather, more so when the person it was from was well-nourished and had a fair bit of muscle. The [Dwarf] I summoned was both, so his hide should be fairly exceptional. I didn't know if I was right or not, as he wasn't human.

With the horses being tamed, they complied with whatever I told them to do. I helped boost the two [Hobgoblins] onto the back of two of the horses and started teaching them how to ride them. Bareback was a little hard on them but they got used to it quick enough.

We started heading towards their home forest. We'd make it there by dusk if we took a few breaks for the girls to rest and recover. When we did, I used [Hydrokinesis] on my saliva, spreading it over their legs and backs to take the pain away. They still complained about pain in their thighs so I massaged them for the two girls.

After the rest, I made lunch using a rest of my leftover vegetables, then I chopped up skinned and chopped up the [Dwarf] and [Triple Horned Horse] and mixed it all into a stew. I fed the horses I tamed some of it, as well. With them doing most of the work getting us there, of course I was going to feed them.

Surprisingly, two of them seemed to favor their own kinds meat while the third favored the vegetables. It made me wonder if they were from different herds, with the ones that preferred their own kinds meat from one that couldn't get a lot of food while the other horse was from a herd that had plenty of food around. Well, it was just speculation. It could just be they liked the taste. I would keep the other two horses from eating any of their kind unless I said otherwise.

 **[You have learned "Triple Stab" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Armored Scale Charge" ability.]**

I made a couple of makeshift saddles out of some of the fur I already had. Since I couldn't tan the higher quality hides, I'd leave it for now. I removed the blood from the raw furs and hides and drank it. That removed one of the messier steps for my to-do list.

We stopped for the night a little while before dusk, just within view of the forest. The forest was a dangerous place at night, or so the girls said, with all of the stronger, nocturnal creatures roaming around. The plains were relatively safe with mainly [Boarfolle] and [Red Deer] around.

I used the remaining bits of [Triple Horned Horse] for dinner, which was the entire front half of the horse. It wasn't much as good as lunch was but it was still pretty good.

We turned in for the night and I summoned three [Dwarves] to keep watch over us, as well as a pair of [Elves] for ranged attacks.

The girls slept by my side, Sato draping an arm over me to touch Sei. Sei curled up as close to my side as she could get, making it a bit easier to Sato to touch. Well, it wasn't uncomfortable, so I wasn't going to say anything.

 **[Day 36]**

Day started early with myself waking up a half hour before dawn. Sato had switched sides during the night and sandwiched Sei between the two off us. Either of them were laying directly on me but I would still jostle them as I stood. I just hoped it wouldn't be enough to wake them.

I stood slowly, being careful not to jostle the girls. Sei flopped onto her back as I got up, Sato rolling with her. The view was rather cute, so I enjoyed it for a moment.

When I was done admiring the view, I moved away from the campsite and pulled the [Boarfolle] out of my [Item Box] and started skinning it, making a small incision first so I could drain the blood from it. I drank the blood, of course. I didn't get any abilities, despite the huge amount of blood I drank.

I skinned the beast and stuffed the fur and horns in my box. I used my fire magic to cook the creature then pulled its meat right off the bone, the slightest bit of effort needed to tear the muscle apart. I created a low-heat flame to start drying the meat. It was basically just supposed to be for emergencies or whenever I didn't feel like hunting. Obviously I couldn't add spices or marinate it before turning it into jerky but it should taste pretty good regardless. With this much meat, I would have to keep it cooking for a full five hours to get it done. I could turn the temperature up so it would take less time but if I turned it up too high, I'd continue to actually cook the meat and it'd burn. I rather do it at the slow pace and get it right than ruin the meat.

The girls woke up a little after dawn, roughly an hour into my drying of the meat. I gave them some of it for breakfast but not anything more than a light meal. It was worse for me, however, with myself not having eaten yet. I hadn't gone this long without eating since high school. Which is to say not longer than ten hours. There were times in my life I ate every half hour in my previous life, mainly while I was dismantling evil esper organizations made of a large range of creatures, including the leader, a genius orangutan with future sight.

We'd make it to their cave somewhere between just after noon and just before sunset after I was finished cooking. If we were attacked, it'd be before sunset but if we had a smooth progression through the forest, we'd be there just after noon.

We spent the time I was cooking chatting and getting to know each other. I told them about my ability to gain the powers of whatever I ate. They had guessed I could evolve like them, with my appearance having changed, if only a little. What they didn't know was that I was originally human. Human human, not a mix-breed. They were surprised I had eaten an [Orc] that was apparently in the process of evolving to gain the ability to evolve. Evolution was supposed to be a near-instant thing after you've fallen asleep. The fact I found one meant that either something interfered with its evolution, only possible by a God or Great God, or the orcs body was was so severely damaged that the evolution process was slowed considerably so the evolved species vitality and regeneration speed could heal the body before it changed. The orc didn't looked that damaged, according to what I remember, so I doubt it was the second option.

Well, I'll think about it another time. If it was a God or Greater God, their help that caused me to gain that ability wouldn't be anything different than getting a blessing from them.

I didn't tell the girls about my previous life or how I was only thirty-six days old in this world.

Sei turned out to be six years old, having been two when she evolved into a [Hobgoblin Mage]. It had been four years since her evolution and even now her level was in its thirties. It was incredibly slow. I had evolved twice in roughly a month while she had evolved once in six years.

Sato wasn't much better. She was three years old and had just evolved last year. It seemed like it took two years for the average goblin to evolve once. Average based on the data I had. They didn't know about the other two [Hobgoblins], only that the [Half-Demon] fought the leader once a week to try to take over. He had apparently won once and stayed leader for all of one week. It wasn't a bad set-up for them. A rival would encourage them to become stronger as to surpass the other, or stay above them, if one was constantly superior.

Sei had absolutely no talent for anything physical and Sato only had a basic knowledge of how to use weapons. Mostly 'keep the pointy end away from you'. When we took a break for longer than a day, I'd teach Sei jujutsu and judo and I'd teach Sato kenjutsu. Sato wasn't quite fast for iaido or iaijutsu, but enough training would take care of that in a short time.

Five hours passed in the blink of an eye and I stored the dried [Boarfolle] in my [Item Box]. I helped the girls mount their horses before mounting my own. We took off at a steady trot, letting the horses rest a bit. With the threats in the forest the girls told me about, they might need to save their energy for a fight.

The biggest threat was a red [Hind Bear]. From how the girls talked about it, it made me think of the [Gold Lion], having a blessing from at least a Demigod. I could hardly wait to hunt it.

We had to stop once, Sato's mount being attacked by a [Hind Bear]. It gouged the bear with its three horns before the bear snapped two off. It was more of a unicorn now. The bear hit it with its other arm, as well, gouging out an eye and cutting up a good portion of its face and neck. I used [Hydrokinesis] on my [Healing Saliva] and used it to patch up the horse while I was attacking the bear. It wasn't hard to divide my attention just to heal the horse as it took very little effort to use those two skills.

I punched the bear in the forehead for my first attack, stunning it. I used [Scale Armor Production] to grow my nails and used them to slice the bears nose along with [Triple Slice]. It tore the nose up pretty badly and it was bleeding profusely. Not enough to cause it any real issues in the long run but it would cause problems while it was hunting until it was healed. Not that it'd live long enough to really be an issue.

While it was recoiling from the pain, I prepared a spell in one hand and used my leg to smack the bear around, literally at one point. It was a spell I hadn't cast before, being a demise rank three spell, so the cast time was a bit higher. It also required a high percentage of concentration and made it rather difficult to do anything else. Difficult, not impossible. The embarrassing part of it all was the chant I had to do to cast the spell in the first place. Not only was it long and tedious, if I messed up even once, I had to start over. Next time I ate a spell-caster, I'd have to see if they had a shorten incantation skill or something similar so I didn't have to say as much, or anything if I was lucky. Until then, I chanted the spell and kicked the bear.

Honestly, magic doesn't really seem worth it at the moment. To cast the rank one demise spell, I need a full minute of chanting. If I overload it with enough magic power, I could cut the cast-time down by half. Of course, it cost me nearly four times as much magic power than the base spell. Four minutes of incantation later and I threw a pitch-black pyramid out of my hand. It was slow moving but it was large. It was as tall as me both length and width and the bear was close enough to take it head on.

When the spell dissipated, all I saw left of the bear was the top half of its head, a couple claws and its legs from slightly above knees. It was a disappointing result. There was barely anything left of it to eat.

I picked up the few pieces and ate them. I gained no skills but I didn't expect to with such little there.

I moved back to Sato's horse, ignoring the looks I was getting from the girls, and used more of my saliva to heal what little bit I sent couldn't. I couldn't replace its eye, nor could I heal it, but I wasn't about to kill it. While Sei and Sato could share a horse, this one was still perfectly capable of being a mount. If it survived long enough or if I didn't use it as emergency rations first, I'd replace it's eye or find something that could.

Once the horse was all healed, I pulled Sato up and stuck her back on the horses back before remounting my own.

Half an hour and one [Demon Spider] later, we arrived at the goblin cave. I would probably be attacked if I went in as-is, so I made false shackles out of my blood, replenishing it with water pulled from the air. I put the shackles on and handed the chain to Sato, the stronger of the pair. I didn't have anything for my mouth but I did my best to look sullen and miserable. It seemed to work, fortunately.

I was pulled in the cave and stumbled over a rock for effect.

Sei started a conversation with a very old looking goblin, pretty much explaining I killed everyone but was so exhausted by the time I got to Sei and Sato, their combo overpowered me and Sei's magic kept me sedated until we returned here. She also added a part in there about how I'd make a good breeder for the female hobgoblins, if any of the new ones ever evolved.

The old goblin rubbed his chin, "Well… one shows some promise. Gobume. She came back twice after nightfall, though not much longer than an hour after. She said she knew where there was danger and how long to wait for it to pass. I wouldn't be surprised to find her evolving within the year, and with a blessing." The old goblin sighed sadly, "Many of the youngin's died while you all were out. Most of them really. We got new kids coming soon so hopefully those brats get some pep in their step like you and Hobusato had."

I didn't hear any more of the conversation, being pulled by Sato to a hidden part of the cave. Sato wrinkled her nose at the smell and I could see why. One of the women that was used for breeding stock had died and started rotting. How they hadn't noticed, I'd never know. From the look of things, she took a rusty weapon and cut her throat with it. From the poor quality of the weapon and the fact the wound didn't look very deep, it must've taken a long time for her to bleed out. I gave a short prayer for her as Sato released me.

I asked Sato not to say anything about the dead human. I wanted to see if I could get any skills off her, even if she was a couple days old by this point in time.

I spent the night in the cave, eating the woman. She didn't taste particularly great but I did end up getting an ability. Or rather, a job. It confirmed my ability changed

 **[You have learned "Job: Druid" ability.]**

The druid job seemed useful enough. It allowed me to use nature magic, a type of magic obviously based around nature. The level she had in the job, however, was pitiful. It only allowed me limited usage of the nature magic and only to accelerate the body's own natural healing process. I don't know if it'd allow me to do the same with my other healing skills.

I was woken up a couple times by… what I supposed were female goblins. They looked similar to the male goblins, with the only differences being the female goblins having hair and using tattered cloth to cover their chest. Their faces were almost exactly alike the males, so it was rather hard to tell apart by those.

I sent out some blood clones to scout the forest and cave, and to keep an eye on the goblins while I slept. Sei and Sato were fine, as I knew them, but I didn't know any of the others, nor did I want to be 'breeding stock'. However, I'd put up with being 'held captive' until the two of them were ready to head back out. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long…

 **[Day 37]**

I spent most of the day in the cave, eating the broken weapons and armor. There was a bag that enchanted to fix one stack of ninety-nine items and gave me an extra slot in my [Item Box], giving me twelve-hundred and one. Why there was a bag meant to carry one stack of ninety-nine items, I would never know. Mostly because I didn't care.

After eating enough arrows, bows, shields, maces, swords and… pretty much everything I could get my hands… hand on, I received three skills and strengthened [Improved Piercing Power].

 **[You have learned "Improved Piercing Power" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Improved Bashing Power" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Improved Bludgeoning Power" ability.]**

I planned on killing the women later, before we left. They were broken shells of people, reduced to nothing but breeding stock and child-bearers. If I did it now, however, it'd obviously be my doing, so I'd have to wait.

I planned on eating them as well, of course. Since I got a job from one, I wanted to see if I got a job or abilities from the others.

 **[Day 38]**

It was about noon when the noise occurred. It was impossible to tell time inside the cave, but I had several blood clones out scouting, so it wasn't much of a problem for me.

Sei and Sato were arguing with the elder goblin, Gobuji, about me. They weren't saying anything about the missing female, which I was rather glad for. Unfortunately, they were talking about 'replenishing their numbers' and why 'he hasn't been used yet'. Sato slipped back and explained thing to me. Sei likely told her what to say, as Sato explained things much more than she normally would.

In short, I'd have to act out my role as 'breeding stock' or I'd be used as rations by the older [Goblins]. Since Sei and Sato were [Hobgoblins], either they performed the deed with me or I'd be killed. Of course, if they choose not to, I'd kill the goblins that came to kill me. If I absolutely had to, I'd wipe out all of the [Goblins] in the cave.

… Lets just say I didn't have to do that. The girls didn't know I made up my mind to kill the elders if they said no but they ended up not saying no, so there was no need to worry them. I just feel a bit bad that the two of them were forced into doing this by the elder [Goblins].

After satisfying the two girls, I sent out some more blood clones, turning them into a poisonous substance. I had the clones enter their bodies while they were eating some fruits or grubs. I only killed two tonight, as to make it seem like they died of natural causes. The elder goblin looked like he was about to keel over at any moment, so it wasn't such a big deal. One of the slightly younger goblins, however, I had it die from my poison blood clone and used said clone to pull food up into its throat to make it seem like it choked to death.

With it now being night, or very close to it, they wouldn't be discovered that they're dead until the morning. Or so I hoped.

 **[Day 39]**

The bodies were discovered this morning, not long after the sun started to show. Instead of a funeral, two goblins took one body each and carried them out to the forest. They walked for twenty minutes before dumping the bodies where creatures could prey on them. The goblins ran all the way back, though one didn't make it after being bitten by a [Night Viper]. I couldn't help but laugh at how pitiful they were.

Sei and Sato left last night, Sei having a slightly limp in her step. It was a real confidence booster, as was both their smirks.

Sato came back after the bodies were ditched, pulling me up. Once we got to Sei, the three of us talked about leaving. I agreed. While sleeping on a grass bed wasn't comfortable, stone wasn't nearly as soft.

Sato took me back to where I was sleeping and I gathered up the books and some weapons, dropping them into my [Item Box].

It was time for me to do something I'd regret. I couldn't allow these women to live the rest of their lives as breeding stock, so I gave them the nicest death I could. I poisoned them using a poison that would cause them to fall asleep and then give them a painless death. I cut open their stomachs and pulled out the unborn goblins and used my [Fire Generation] and [Fire Control] to burn them to ashes. I gave a prayer to the unborn souls, hoping they'd find peace in the afterlife.

I stored the bodies in my [Item Box] and walked back to Sato. I was out of sight, barely, so all she knew what happened was that blood was spilled. We walked back to Sei, with myself being back in the faux-shackles.

I shed a bit more blood, making a few more blood clones. I told the girls that it was to watch the [Goblins] and to alert us if they were in danger. Their real purpose was to kill off some of the older [Goblins], specifically the ones that forced Sei and Sato to do what we did. I didn't mind doing it but I much preferred it to be with a willing partner.

We left the cave while I was being tugged along. I 'tripped' over the same rock I did while entering the cave. Once we were out of site of the cave and I made sure there was no one around us with [Presence Detector], I reabsorbed my blood shackles. I didn't say anything to Sei or Sato. The atmosphere around us was thick in an awkward manner.

To get our minds off of it, I had Sei teach some of her fire magic. Sato was a little bored of it but that didn't stop her from cheering when I successfully cast the tier one fire spell [Fireball].

Using [Fireball] as the base, I tried creating a new spell. It wasn't supposed to be possible, according to Sei, but I had the blessing of the [Greater God of Origin and Demise]. I could at least attempt it. We were headed towards where the treasure map pointed. I sent out blood clone scouts while I trapped in the cave and had them scout out the forest and surrounding area and they let me know for certain that this was the area the map was pointing to. It could be a dud, of course, or have already been cleared out but the map looked fairly new. Even if it was empty of equipment, there were likely to be monsters inside.

A half hour walk later and we were at the hidden entrance. I could tell it was there thanks to [Minor Geological Comprehension].

I used [High Human's Peerless Blow] on the entrance, punching it with enough strength to shatter a boulder with a high metal content. Instead of breaking the entrance, there was barely a mark on it. I was impressed. I used my skills to create an armored shell around my one remaining arm, then enhanced my charging power as high as I could by stacking multiple skills. I took a few steps back and activated my last resort skill, [Limit Removal]. It might break my legs and my arm, but I wanted to see if I could break this door. I narrowed my fingers to a point and charged forward. It took me two steps to reach the door. Surprisingly, my right leg didn't break. My left leg however… I snapped my tibula. It was broken to the point where the bone was sticking out of my skin. However, I was able to push my armored hand through the door.

I grabbed and pulled the door, pulling it away from the wall in the cliff. Once it was out, I dropped the door to the side and took a look at my hand. It was broken and mangled and the armor that had covered it had shattered off. I flexed my hand, snapping my fingers back into the right direction. Lesser breaks like that would heal soon enough when I activate [Rapid Recovery]. My leg deserved attention, however. I pulled my leg up and pushed my leg into place. I used [Hydrokinesis] and [Healing Saliva] together, slipping the fluid into the hole in my leg. I wrapped it around the bone and fast-healed it. With the hole in my leg healed up, I was unable to pull the saliva back out of my leg, so I used [Liquid Restoration], reabsorbing what remained. Next I used [Healing Saliva] on my hand, the bones inside it snapping into place properly. I flexed my hand, making sure everything was fine. Once it checked out, I grabbed the door and pulled up bits and pieces, shoving them into my mouth and eating it. It was made of a rather tough material that was slightly difficult to bite through but it didn't seem to have any other special properties. Even to where a fourth of the door was done, I didn't gain a single ability.

Deciding to ignore it, Sato, Sei and I decided to head on in. And what would you know? We encountered a monster within the first twenty feet. It was a cute little creature no taller than the length of my hand. I decided to call it a [Brownie]. Five seconds later, she introduced herself as Returner the artificial [ **Carbuncle** ]. If it could talk, I should probably find out the name of their species before trying to come up with one of my own.

She, since she looked like a she despite not truly having a gender, explained her situation to the three of us. It seems that Returner is an artificial carbuncle created a long time ago by the legendary magician Velvet who was well-known throughout the continent. She is the manager of "Velvet's Hidden Treasury", a structure recognized in this world as a dungeon. Within the innermost part of the Treasury, there lay Legendary class gems and elixirs that topped the list of magic items that Velvet had painstakingly collected over his lifetime. In the dungeon were magical creatures: the **[Skeleton Soldier]** , the tougher **[Skeleton Warrior]** and the advanced level skeleton, **[Greater Skeleton]**. Since the three of us weren't human - I wasn't going to correct her. I technically wasn't… and I technically was. I was human up to a point. - we'd be given a chance to clear the dungeon. If we were human, she would have summoned all of the creatures that laid in the dungeon to attack us. If we succeeded, we'd be allowed to take as much treasure as we could carry. We readily agreed.

Returner announced that she'd wait for three days at the end of the dungeon and flew away.

Sei had some information to tell me about dungeons. There were several types of dungeons. Made-made, derived and ranked dungeons. The ranked dungeons were separated into three types, according to what rank god created it, starting a Demigod rank. Man-made dungeons were the weakest type, then derived, demigod and so on. Man-made dungeons were, of course, man-made and had no specific type to them. It could be any combination of monster types, from undead and holy to water and ice. That didn't mean the monsters got along all the time. Derived dungeons were dungeons that were created due to the influence of [Age of the Gods] ranked dungeon. The insides didn't typically go down more than ten floors but were structured similarly to the ranked dungeon. The monsters were/are randomly selected upon creation but typically stayed the same type as the bosses on the dungeon. Ranked dungeons were no surprise. The monsters inside the dungeon were of the same type as the god they came from. If created in the ranked dungeon of a water god, goblins would be [Aquatic Goblins].

We were inside a man-made dungeon, which meant it was a weak dungeon. That didn't mean we could let our guard down. Not only did a number of people die in man-made dungeons each year, they typically had a magical device used to summon new troops whenever the dungeon was running empty. That or some type of monster to do that.

Since this was still a weak dungeon, I decided to use it to train Sato and Sei. We just needed an open enough area.

We walked through the dungeon, stopping occasionally to kill **[Stone Rats]** and **[Amalgam Slimes]**.

[Stone Rats] were what they sounded like. Rats with stone-like hides. They tasted like rats but with tougher meat. As they were weak, I didn't gain any skills, even from eating six of them.

[Amalgam Slimes] could also be called rainbow slimes as they were multiple colors. At first glance, I could see six colors: White, green, red, blue, yellow and grey. So far we've only encountered the one but it, like all other slimes, was highly resistant to physical attacks. Magic worked fine, as did my elemental attacks. The liquid it was made of tasted like soured wine and the core was bland like the core of other slimes. I crunched through it and continued to hunt.

I had a good portion of the dungeon mapped but I wanted to explore every part of the dungeon so I didn't miss out on anything to eat.

Ten more minutes of walking and we encountered our first [Skeleton Soldier]. It looked like a humans skeleton with a tabard on and a sash wrapped around the middle so it wouldn't flap around. In its hand was a gladius sword and that seemed to be all it had.

It ran forward and its skull rattled in an annoying fashion. As it was rather weak, I left it to Sato to defeat. She and Sato were a full evolution behind me, in terms of just pure numbers. After Sato defeated the skeleton and we encountered a new one, it'd be Sei's turn to defeat one. I'd continue having them taking turns until they were exhausted. Once they were, we'd take an hour break for a meal.

Sato drew her sword and moved forward to attack the skeleton. She disarmed it quick enough, knocking the blade from its hand. The trouble started from there. She could dodge its attacks but her sword wasn't dealing any serious damage. I pulled up a stone with [Geokinesis] and flicked it towards the skeleton. I hit a rib, cracking but not breaking it off. That served to inspire Sato. She used the scabbard and flat of her blade to bash and break the skeleton apart. Once its head had come off, she stomped on it, shattering it. The fight took seven minutes in total, six and a half of it spent trying to hack it apart with her sword.

I picked up the bigger pieces of the skeleton and ate it, starting with the spinal cord. It tasted the same as a normal humans bones. I was able to polish off most of the skeleton, ignoring the little bits that Sato had broken it into, before gaining a skill.

 **[You have learned "Lesser Damage Reduction" ability.]**

It was a pretty standard ability, reducing the amount of damage I take by a certain amount. If I would take one hundred points of damage, if I activated this ability before I took damage, I only would've been hit for ninety-eight points of damage or so. It was a weak ability unless you had others stacking on top of it. I'd keep it active, as I did all my other damage reduction or resistance skills.

We encountered another skeleton five minutes or so after I finished eating the first. As it was Sei's turn, she cast the rank one spell fireball. The cast time was pretty fast but I had to push the skeleton back once before she got it off. Once it was hit, however, it burned up quickly, turning into ash. The entire fight took less than a minute, which was considerably faster than Sato's fight. It left nothing behind to snack on, however.

It was less than a minute later we encountered more skeletons, four of them. I took the sword from the one in the front and punched its head off. I took the sword and threw it like a javelin. Despite it seeming to be resistant to slashing and piercing attacks, prove by Sato, the skeleton was pierced through. It was thrown back as well, but it didn't stop moving. I granted the girls enough time to deal with the first pair, which was my goal. When the skeleton came back, I took the blade that was stuck in it and heaved upward, using it to cleave the creature in two.

We were attacked again without me having time to pick up the bones. According to my mental map, there were several more around the corner. Since I was the closest, they attacked me first. It wasn't a large issue. I wrapped them up with golden thread and rolled them back to the pair. I moved around the corner and used [Fire Generation] to destroy the undead down the hallway.

I shut off the fire to look at my handiwork. There wasn't much left. A bit of ash scattered in the hall.

I turned back to Sato and Sei. Sato was finished with her three and Sato was bashing the head in on her last. I moved to pick up the skull I knocked off and started taking bites of it. It wasn't tasty but bones never were. I finished the skull quickly and gathered up the bodies, storing them in my [Item Box]. As we walked through the dungeon, I snacked on the corpses. I had eaten two of the creatures by the the time we encountered another skeleton.

 **[You have learned "Weakness to Light Damage" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Piercing Resistance" ability.]**

The two skills were self explanatory.

I still had five bodies left in my [Item Box] and I would keep eating until I stopped gaining abilities from them.

The pair of skeletons we encounter this time had armor on. It looked like leather armor with metal plating. They held shields at their side and one used a mace rather than a sword. They were far enough away for magic so Sei hit both with a fireball.

The fireball only hit one but the explosion of flame it caused burned off the shield-bearing arm of the other. Sato ran forward, bashing the mace-wielding skeleton on its head with the flat of her blade and followed it up with her scabbard, cracking the head apart. They were a pretty proficient duo, though Sei's magic could cause friendly fire, if mostly by accident. She could use other types of magic but none were as effective as her fire magic.

I picked the single remaining body up and started eating it. A small portion was missing but I still ended up gaining a skill from it.

 **[You have learned "Weakness to Fire Damage" ability.]**

It seemed a lot of the abilities these things had were detrimental. Still, I didn't have to activate them, so there was no real side effect.

There were two more dead ends to explore and another three corners until we entered a large room. In that room seemed to be a large number of skeletons, both [Skeleton Soldiers] and [Skeleton Warriors]. There were roughly thirty in the room so I wanted to wait a short while before we took them on.

We went down one of the dead ends and encountered another [Amalgam Slime]. As I wanted to try to gain an ability from it, I slurped it up and crunched down on the core. Again, there was no ability. Not that I really expected one.

As it was the only creature at the dead end, we turned back and went towards the other one.

Unfortunately it was just a dead end.

I decided to let the girls take a break. I'd let them eat some of the spare meat while I'd eat the bone I had stashed away. With my urge to gain abilities and my natural gluttony, I ended up eating two full skeletons, leaving me with three stored in my [Item Box]. I seemed to be on a roll with gaining abilities, one from each skeleton. It took an entire skeleton, sure, but it was still a roll.

 **[You have learned "Negative Status Effects Nullification" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Anaerobic" ability.]**

And they were useful abilities to have. The first one was self-explanatory but the second was a bit more difficult to explain. The best way to describe the [Anaerobic] ability was oxygenless function. If I had it active, I would not need air to do physical activities. I could run, jump and fight without having to breathe. The only downside I could see is that I would have to breathe the amount of air my body would've normally required regularly.

After our meal, we headed down to the open room. I didn't tell the the girls what was inside. I wanted to see how they'd react.

As we rounded the corner into the room, three skeletons charged us. Both of the girls flinched and hesitated. Were the skeletons actual threats, they would have been harmed. I weaved a golden net and captured the three skeletons. I gave the girls a quick berating while I weaved a much larger net. Once it was ready, I threw it and used [Aerokinesis] to spread it across the room. The net was, of course, made out of gold thread and resembled a chain-link fence, with holes in it just small enough for the swords and arms of the skeletons to be unable to pass through, unless they were able to take their hands off.

I pulled the net tight, trapping the skeletons within it. Once they were gathered close to me, I tied them up one by one before retrieving the net. Since it was useful for a range of things, I'll keep it until I get one or can make a better one.

I divided the skeletons up into two groups, one of fifteen and one fourteen. We were in a good enough sized room for some basic training. I set up a web at both entrances to the room, trapping us in the room and keeping anything else from getting in.

I summoned up a pair of elves so I could use them to demonstrate what I wanted to teach them. I taught them just the basics. Proper stances, basic movements and the like. We stopped for a break after a couple hours and shared dried meat since I _really_ didn't feel like eating more skeletons. Bones weren't a good part of a stable diet anyway.

After our meal, we trained a bit more. When we were done, I sealed off most of the web to keep the skeletons from attacking us with ranged weapons, if they had a way of getting any.

I really should've gotten a tent or something. I could make one, sure, but the golden web is as heavy as actual gold, so it wasn't very good for a tent. I could make it somewhat soft, so I could make bedding. It just wasn't good for blankets and things. I really should've thought of this beforehand.

 **[Day 40]**

I woke up early, earlier than usual. The skeletons had tunneled their way through the wall with their swords, which were now useless scraps of metal. The girls hadn't woken up, as they didn't have detection skills. I should probably try to teach them. I wouldn't know how, however.

They were easy enough to handle. I used [Fire Generation] and [Fire Control] - it used less stamina to use these two skills than it did for [Pyrokinesis] and, since [Pyrokinesis] was a psychic skill, it was less taxing on my brain. - to create a flame I used to destroy the skeletons.

The sudden whoosh of the flames woke up Sei but Sato remained fast asleep. By a rough estimate, we were asleep for four hours. While not the best, it could be worse. With the hole in the wall, we couldn't stay in the room any longer. Besides, a lack of sleep itself was a form of training. You never know when your sleep will be interrupted in an extremely combat heavy environment.

I woke Sato up by pouring water on her with [Hydrokinesis]. Watching her flop around was rather funny. Sei even got a laugh out of it.

There wasn't much left of the dungeon, maybe two rooms. One room was three times the size of the one we were in while the other was a quarter of the size. In the smaller room, there was an unknown entity. Every now and then, a [Skeleton Soldier] or [Skeleton Warrior] would pop up on my mental map and make their way towards this room.

They were easily dispatched. But I was reminded, somehow, about the thirty or so skeletons I had tied up last night. I planned on using them to have Sei and Sato combat them in waves but I left them tied up back in the room we left. Well, it wasn't a big deal. We'd cross them again on our way out so I could kill them then.

As we rounded the counter into the second-to-last room we were spotted by a different kind of skeleton. From what I could see, it look like neither a soldier or a warrior, meaning it was the last kind of skeleton, a [Greater Skeleton]. The fact it was summoning the other types of skeletons, now at a rapid pace of twelve a minute, confirmed my thoughts.

My stomach growled at the thought of getting a new summoning skill.

We weren't in any danger since the [Greater Skeleton] was just standing there, summoning more minions. It seemed… lackluster. I mean, if you were playing a video game and one of the various bosses you fight just stands there summoning enemies, you'd be disappointed too, right? Even the fact that he summoned one new minion every five seconds was underwhelming. With the fact that there were four skeletons, excluding the large number I had bound, remaining when we went to sleep, it was surprising it still had mana. I could only summon about thirty elves before running out.

I used [Geokinesis] to pull up parts of the floor, making sure they weren't sharp. Using the broken bits of rocks, I created a miniature tornado by spinning them rapidly in a circle. It should work. Blunt chunks of rock moving at roughly one-hundred and thirty kilometers an hour[2] should be more than enough to break unprotected bone. It would shred through tabards and eventually leather, regardless of the little bit of metal plating the warriors wore. Not that I really had to hit their chest. Their heads were completely exposed, meaning they were easy to bash and break with rocks.

There were a couple skeletons smart enough to put up their shields to block the whirlwind of rocks but I had a countermeasure. I pulled more rocks up and fired them directly at their heads. With them blocking the other rocks with their shields, the 'new' rocks were able to hit them, shattering their heads with surprising ease.

I walked forward, urging my faux-tornado forward with me. The [Greater Skeleton] started summoning faster and faster now that its… afterlife was in danger. Not that it really mattered. The rocks I was manipulating were breaking skulls as fast as they were summoned.

I scratched my head as I moved forward. At the rate I was getting stronger, I would have to challenge a derived or ranked dungeon for any sort of fight. Not to say that there weren't people or creatures out there as strong as I was or stronger but derived and ranked dungeons were easier to find.

As the [Greater Skeleton] swung his sword down, I grabbed it and tore it from its hand, tearing its hand off in the process. I discarded the sword and reached forward, grabbing the neck of the undead and pulling. As I started to pull, I put my foot into its torso, holding it down. The outcome I expected happened and I pulled its spine right off its ribcage. With that, the creature was defeated.

I gathered up the rest of the bones from boss skeleton, storing them in my [Item Box]. As we walked to the last room, I snacked on the spine, which was still connected to a moving head. They were actually quite tasty bones, especially compared to all of the other skeletons I ate. By the time I finished both the spine and skull, I gained two abilities.

 **[You have learned "Lesser Summoning: Undead" ability.]**

 **[You have learned "Darkness Absorption" ability.]**

They were both useful abilities. The undead summoning was, as one would expect, an ability to summon lesser undead creatures, such as skeletons, zombies and ghost[3]. [Darkness Absorption] allowed me to absorb the darkness around me and convert it into mana. If I was in a darkness created by a spell, I would absorb the spell and it would end. If I was in a natural darkness, such as in the room where I fought the skeleton, it'd be like I had an infinite amount of mana. It was quite the convenient ability to have.

As we walked into the treasure room, the first thing I spotted was the mummy. And not the undead kind. It was hard to tell but I believe it was an old man. He was wearing bright red robes, which hid most of his appearance. One arm was bigger than the other… and silver.

Before we could start looting the room, Returner came up to us, congratulating us on conquering the dungeon. She described to us how her master - she gestured over to the mummy, meaning that really was Velvet, as I thought - hated humans and created this dungeon, with permission from the native elves, so they wouldn't get the treasure he spent most of his life gathering, improving upon or creating.

She also described that this area was saturated with all kinds of spirit stones, spirit stones that should normally be found anywhere -but- here. Areas with fresh, strong winds or powerful creatures that controlled the winds are areas one could find Wind Spirit Stones. Hot areas or volcanic areas are where you could find Fire Spirit stones. The reason this place was so unique was because Velvet was not only an expert at handling spirits but very loved by them. I was tempted to eat him to try to gain his abilities, even if he was way past his expiration date.

Returner smiled up at me, "Now that my mission is over, there isn't any reason for me stay around." She floated up into my hand and bowed respectfully, "If you please, give him a funeral. When you have, take his arm to replace yours." She stood straight and smiled softly. Her physical form faded, all that remaining of her being the gemstone. I didn't know if it was valuable, nor did I particularly care. She trust me to give a funeral to a person I didn't know just before her life ended. It was a bit of a dick move. If I didn't do it, I'd feel like an asshole but if I did, I'd possibly be wasting skills.

I popped the gemstone into my mouth and swallowed it whole.

 **[You have learned "Golden Rule" ability.]**

Her gemstone tasted bitter. Not because it actually was but because of the decision I made. I would give Velvet a funeral, burying him in the ground, just not the way Returner expected.

The [Golden Rule] ability was a useful one, one I'd have always active. If I was using it when purchasing or selling, I'd spend less and gain more. If I was using it in a derived or ranked dungeon, it'd give me higher quality drops. It would probably also insure that the creatures I hunted would be tastier. I wasn't actually sure of that last part. I just hoped it was.

As we started gathering up the goods, I took Velvets corpse and tried to pulled the arm off on him. The arm grew spikes, piercing my hand. It was painful, sure, but I continued to pull. I heard a pop, crackle and then a snap as the bone in the arm gave way. The needles the silver arm produced receded, meaning the enchantment, if that is what it was, was only to make sure it was not removed by force. And, technically, it hadn't been. The remaining part of his arm had.

I flipped the arm over, the remaining bit of arm fell out surprising ease. The enchantment on the arm must've been able to tell if it was attached to the full body or not. I grabbed the piece off the floor and threw it into my mouth and ate it.

In all honesty, it tasted like perfectly dried and seasoned meat. I didn't understand how but it was tasty.

I ignored the body of Velvet in favor of using [Analyze] on the arm.

 **[Silver Artificial Arm - Airgeatlámh]**

 **Legendary Artifact**

 **Armblast, Spellblast, Self-Evolution, Elemental Echo**

 **[A divine artificial arm previously worn by Velvet found in the depths of a certain ancient dungeon. Those who lost an arm can obtain an arm that they can equip and with it perform any movement flawlessly. By taking in other kinds of metal, it is possible to change the shape according to the wearer's intent, this ability improves with each use. Destruction of this item is fundamentally impossible.]**

If only it said how to equip it. I set it back down so I could take my shirt off. It wouldn't do if the leather the shirt was made of was trapped in the arm after all. I put the silver arm next to my stub of an arm, trying to put it on.

Instantly, the arm came apart and a dozen barbed wired sunk into my shoulder, tearing through it and knitting itself with my flesh and bone. I could see why it was so hard to get off the corpse now.

The pain the arm caused as it fused with me was nearly unbearable. It was so intense that I nearly blacked out. By the time the pain faded, I had thousands of stars swimming in my vision. When I recovered, I looked at my new arm. It was a lot larger than when I tore it off Velvet. Where Velvets went to the elbow, mine replaced my entire arm. It wasn't quite as rugged looking as when Velvet wore it, it was smoother, with one ridge on it rather than three. It was where the elbow connected to the upper arm. It was rather sharp, meaning I could use it to stab would be thieves or assassins.

I gave a few experimental swings of my arm and even tested it by changing it to a few shapes. To get anything worthwhile, I'd have to get more metals to experiment with and to upgrade the arm.

I shrugged it off. It'd come to it when I had to.

I grabbed my shirt and slipped it back on before moving to help the girls pack all the goods into my [Item Box]. Once the room was emptied, I took Velvets corpse and stored it away as well. Of course I took the throne. It'd be something good to sit on while gloating.

On our way out, I crushed the skulls of the thirty or so skeletons and stored their bits in my [Item Box] along with the rest of the corpses. Now that I could summon my own, I could train the girls at night times with no problem.

There was still plenty of time left in the day so I called my tamed horses and had us start our journey back to [Trient].

When we stopped for the night, I summoned some elves and dispatched them so we could make a basic soup. I needed to get spices while we were in the town. I did toss in some of the skeleton bones to try to help flavor the soup but it didn't work very well. The skeletons must've been too old to get much flavor out of.

After eating some of my summoned elves, I gainen an ability. Not… not one I'd ever use.

 **[You have learned "Misfortune" ability.]**

It did what its name said, causing misfortune on the one who used it. If I could find a way to cast it on my opponents, it'd be a useful ability.

I set up some traps around the campsite when we turned in for the night and set up some skeletons to hide in the tall grass in case they got past the traps.

* * *

A/N: When I added the [Silver Lion], [Silver Lion(Subspecies)] - also known as [Gold Lion] - and [Mercury Tiger], I did not know that they already existed in the canon story. Nor did I know they were top of their food chain in the region they lived in. I mean, I got that part right, with the exception of the [Gold Lion], who was a part of a boss fight in a Dungeon.

Me (who evolves into a Dodomeki in the main series) is -not- confirmed to be a part of Rou's group. However, that does not mean she's not going to be a part of his group, just that I haven't decided yet. I just thought I'd add something interesting about the group since Rou wasn't born a goblin.

So, I reread the novel, making sure I have most of the story right. Turns out humans -can- evolve. It's a rare event, only possible if one has unlocked the Psalms or is a subordinate of one who unlocked the Psalms. Only, they don't evolve into a superior human species, they become a something closer to a mix blood, like Rou's children.

I know it seems a little boring to have Rou do things he's done before, such as fight an army of skeletons, but I needed to write this part so I can get him some extremely useful abilities (Anaerobic and summon mostly) and some pretty awesome items.

As you can see, I'm focusing on giving him summoning skills more than allies. He'll still have allies but they'll be few in number. Likely around 8 so I can make the 8 Demon Generals as I want them to be. I might reduce the numbers. I don't know to how few yet but that's the fun of a fanfiction. You can do whatever you want.

[1] Worlds largest breed of horse. Stallions stand at about 5'8" (larger if they could stand up on their back legs), Mares stand around 5'4" and Geldings stand between the two at 5'6". They are giant and beautiful. They also weigh around 1 and ¼ tons.

[2] Roughly 81/mph

[3] Anyone else get the urge to say 'Oh my!' when reading this part? I did and I wrote the damn thing.


End file.
